All the Time in the World
by Svendances
Summary: Sequel to "Given a Moment" Ranger promised his family forever and a day. How long is forever exactly? And when does it start? Is he chewing through it while on his latest mission? Or does the time start when he gets back? Will he return? Morelli friendly
1. Where's Daddy?

Chapter 1

"Where's Daddy?" Laura asked, slurping up the dregs of her cereal from her breakfast bowl.

"Da?" Bailey asked eagerly from her highchair. Next to her, Emmanuel just nodded his head. He was never much one for vocal opinions.

It was breakfast time, also known as ask-where-Daddy-is time, not that there was any time of day that they would not ask after their father, it was just that breakfast time was the beginning of the day and they always woke up with the intention of seeing both their parents, but one of them was routinely missing of late. Guess which one. Ranger had been in the wind for a little over a three months now, and boy did I feel every minute of his absence. Every day started the same way. Observe:

"I don't know where Daddy is specifically."

"Why not?" Laura insisted.

"Da!" Bailey exclaimed, clearly just as outraged as her sister was by the reply she'd received.

Emmanuel simply opened his mouth to receive the spoonful of mashed banana I offered and gummed it happily.

"Because I'm not allowed to know. He's doing a special job for very secretive people and if he told me where he was he could get into a lot of trouble."

"That's stupid." This was Laura's new phrase. Everything was stupid. She wasn't allowed to have a lolly, that was stupid. I didn't allow her to stay up and watch a movie, that was stupid. In short, if she didn't like it, it was stupid. Beats me where she picked it up from, probably one of the guys. "When will Daddy come home?"

"I'm not sure," I replied, spooning some mashed banana into Bailey's mouth, with great effort. "Could be days, could be weeks."

"That's stupid."

"Toopee," echoed Bailey, spitting mashed banana down the front of her PJs.

"Well you can ask Uncle Tank or Lester when we get to Rangeman if you like. They might know more than I do." I felt completely evil for putting the thought in her head, but it was the only way to get her to stop pestering me with questions. Most of the time they had no more information than I did, but they didn't mind answering Laura's insistent questions. To tell the truth, they loved everything about the three of them. In the almost two years since I had returned to Ranger with Laura as my big surprise, the Merry Men had fallen absolutely under her spell. They would do anything they could in order to spend time with her and that included shirking their duties to hang out with me and the Loz-meister in the park, or the zoo, or the house, or wherever we were really. Then when the twins came along I was hard pressed to keep up with them as the Rangeman employees stole her the minute I arrived on the floor and continued passing them around, arguing over who's turn it was with either of them. The only time they were brought back to me was if they "began to stink" or started crying and they couldn't get them to stop (in the latter case it was hilarious to watch their panic stricken faces as they handed them over with alarmed, I-don't-know-what-to-do's).

Their first excursion to the Rangeman building had been when they were just two weeks old and was followed by the Merry Men insisting that I bring them back the next day. Again. And again. And again. After about two weeks of this I noticed a lack of work being done while I was there what with everyone cooing over the gorgeous little angels with Ranger's deeps chocolate eyes and my pale skin. I decided I should stop the visits.

Three evenings later, Ranger came home from a full day of work and insisted that I take the twins to Rangeman the next day. It seemed, that while little had been achieved while we were there, the productivity plummeted when we were not. So, visits resumed and I decided to do something helpful with the time I was spending in the building: I ran searches.

Ranger wasn't aware of my actions at first. I had simply taken to hanging out in the spare cubicle with which ever Merry Men were in possession of my babies at the time, that's what it seemed like. Laura would either sit at the desk and colour in and draw, or would wonder from Merry Man to Merry Man observing what they were doing. The men got a kick out of this and it meant that she wasn't constantly in my hair. On occasion, when Ranger wasn't doing his boss thing and 'running' from meeting to meeting all day, Laura would shadow her father, but generally, it was me or the men.

It took Ranger nearly two months to realise that I was running searches under the radar, at which point he immediately put me on the payroll (why, I don't know, he was the boss and I was his wife. What was the point of transferring the money from him to me via official channels when he could just give it to me when I needed it like a regular family? Then I realised that he didn't want to take away my independence. The money I 'earned' from running searches was primarily or myself, I was told. And so I did what nearly every parent did in that situation, I spent my first pay check on necessities for the house and kids. I was further reprimanded for my behaviour and told to go buy some shoes... clothes... jewellery... anything, so long as it cost the equivalent of what I had spent on the house and kids. My life was so hard).

"Go get dressed and we can get going," I told Laura, knowing that she would have no trouble choosing or putting on her clothes since she had been alternating two outfits since Ranger left on his mission. She'd had enough practice dressing herself in them. Today was the pink denim ra-ra skirt with the matching bolero jacket and pink and purple horizontal stripe t-shirt. Tomorrow would be the black overalls and red t-shirt that both had "RangeMan" embroidered on them. This outfit was the product of begging on Laura's part, kind hearted enthusiasm on Ella's part and resignation on Ranger's part. He hated the idea of his little girl wearing a uniform, but he loved seeing her in it none the less.

When we arrived on the control floor Laura literally flung herself into the lap of the first available Rangeman she could find. Today it happened to be Bobby, who was on monitor duty (as a general rule, whoever was on monitor duty was the person she flung herself at first, because they were always the closest to the elevator door). Bobby put down his coffee as soon as he heard the doors ping open and moved far enough out of the way of everything that Laura wouldn't hit any of her appendages on anything that would cause her harm.

"Where's Daddy?" she asked him at once.

"On a secret mission," Bobby replied, an air of mystery inching into his voice.

"Where?" she persisted.

"I can't tell you, it's a secret."

"You don't know." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. She'd ultimately resigned herself to these answers, but couldn't break the habit of asking. "When will Daddy be home?"

"When he gets here."

"When's that?"

"Later."

"When's later?"

"Not now."

"Why?"

"Because if later were right now you wouldn't be asking me these silly questions, you'd be hugging you Daddy so hard that his head popped open and a Mariachi band sprang out."

"What's that?"

"A musical group."

"Okay."

Laura turned around on Bobby's lap to watch the monitors with him and I made my way to my cubicle, with Emmanuel on my hip and Bailey toddling along beside me. Lester was there waiting for us, a huge smile on his face. I immediately grew suspicious of his intentions as I set Em down on the floor and put the child gate up in the doorway, not that this prevented Bailey from getting out, I swear, she's more Houdini than anything else.

"What?" I asked, drawing out the word for several seconds to let him know that I was wary.

"Guess who we got word from early this morning," he teased, waving a discoloured envelope in front of my face like a carrot in front of a donkey.

"Da?" Bailey suggested from the floor where she was pulling out the blocks from the box beside the file cabinet.. There was no doubting that she was a Daddy's girl all the way. Every second of her day was spent asking after her father.

"Got it in one my favourite little niece!" Lester exclaimed was Em tugged on my pants leg. I ignored him, but Lester scooped him up into his arms and tickled him energetically. Em made one of the only sounds I'd ever heard him make, apart from screaming; he giggled. It was the sound of angels, I swear. It always brought a smile to my face.

"Don't let Laura hear you say that," I warned, dropping my handbag into the bottom draw of the pile cabinet and tucking the back pack with everything in it into the negative space under the chair Lester was sat in. "So what's the latest?"

Lester stopped tickling long enough to hand me the envelope he had been waving about, before turning my child upside down and dangling her in front of his face. A myriad of comments followed, including, but not limited to, "You're face is all weird, since when is your nose above your eyes," and "You're hair's standing on end."

I recognised the handwriting at once and quickly tore it open.

Steph,

I know Laura's been pestering everyone for details of my whereabouts, it's just her nature, so first off: Laura, I am somewhere near ­STOP-ASKING-EVERY-TWELVE-SECONDS-YOU'RE-DRIVING-MY-COMPANY-NUTS! Second, I love you all and I can't wait until I'm back there with you. I don't have a lot of time as there is a man willing to take this letter to the nearest village for me, but he must leave in the next half hour. All the men with families are sitting around me, frantically scribbling messages of love and assurance to their loved ones. There's so much love in the air right now that it's making me feel like I want to cry. I'm now wishing I hadn't just written that, because now there are actual tears in my eyes, and if I'm not careful they'll spill over and smudge this note. Now, don't you cry, it won't do any good and you'll make the men worry. There's at least one with you right now.

I'll be home the moment I can. Hug the kids for me and make sure they don't grow up too much while I'm away.

Love forever

Carlos.

Tears were streaming down my face when I finished, despite him telling my explicitly not to cry. By this time Em was seated on Lester's knee watching me. There was a confused look on her face as she stared up at me.

"Is everything alright, Beautiful?" Lester asked as I fell backwards into the empty seat. "Is the boss man okay?"

"Ma?" Bailey enquired from the floor.

"He's fine as of two weeks ago," I sobbed. Em reached out for me and Lester lifted him and held him toward me. I took him into my arms and buried my head in his shoulder, still teary. "Daddy loves you baby," I told him, a lump in my throat. "He loves you so much."

"Da home," came a demanding little voice from down by my knee.

I lifted my head to see Bailey standing there, beseeching eyes gazing up at me. A shaky laugh escaped me. "No, honey, he's not home. He just sent a letter to let us know how much he loves and misses us."

"Da home!" she insisted, jiggling a little.

"I know you want Daddy home, but we have to wait." She didn't like that answer and let me know how much by toddling over to the gate and rattling it violently. I simply turned my chair around and adjusted Emmanuel on my lap so that he could watch as I started up my first search. He knew well enough not to touch any of the buttons, but that didn't stop him from reaching longing for the keys on occasion. He was as curious as the day was long, his sisters doubly so. I had hoped it would wear off as she got older, but apparently, the genes were too strong. Laura just could not be stopped. Fingers crossed it wasn't the same with the twins.

"This isn't fair," Lester complained from behind me, both of us ignoring the continued bashing of the gate. "You had them all to yourself last night and this morning. It's my turn." He spun me around mid type and seized the child from my lap. I didn't mind. "Were you a good boy for your mama last night?"

Emmanuel nodded and opened his mouth as if to say something only to be cut off by his overly vocal sister.

"Da!" she demanded, having managed to move the gate enough to squeeze her way out of the cubicle. "Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!" She must have been stopped by one of the men, because she squealed and started babbling in protest.

I pushed off the desk and rolled over to the doorway to check on her. Tank had her by the ankles, dangling her above his head so that they were eye to eye... sort of. She was squirming of course.

"What are you doing to my kid?" I exclaimed, mock indignation lacing my tone.

"I'm not sure," he grinned. "It sounded like a good idea at the time. What do you think?"

"Certainly seems like fun," I agreed thoughtfully, a grin playing on my own lips. "How does it feel for you?"

"Feels great, but she's kinda slipping..." He momentarily let go of her ankles before gabbing her around the waist and flipping her so that she was seated on his forearm, giggling as per usual. "You, kiddo," he went on, addressing Bailey. "Have got to come with me for a moment. We're gonna do something real fun. As I gave questioning looks, Tank whisked her off down the hall to his office. Lester following behind with a silent, but smiling Em on his shoulders.

When I was alone in my cubicle I let out a sigh of relief. I hadn't had any time alone since the weekend Lester had taken Laura camping and Ella had offered to mind the twins for the day. Needless to say, the feeling was a little foreign, but not unwanted. I leaned back in my chair and revelled in the freedom I temporarily had. Propping my feet on the desk, something I would never allow the kids to do, I closed my eyes and must have drifted off, because the next thing I knew, Ella was waking me with a cup of coffee and a BLT.

"Lunch, dear, you need to eat," she told me when I startled into an upright position.

"Where are the kids?" I asked, remembering that they were here with me... somewhere...

"They're with Lester and Tank in his office. I've not seen hide or hair of them in a couple of hours."

I was curious as to what was going on in there, but knew that I would never find out. Once Tank took the kids into his office there was nothing that could penetrate the confidence that was instilled there. If I didn't know better I'd be suspicious of his intentions.

As much as I knew it was useless, I crept up to the door to eavesdrop. I had just made it within three feet of the door when Laura thrust it open and stood there with her hands on her hips and a stern, Ranger-like expression on her face. Behind her Bailey mimicked the stance as best she could. They both pursed their lips and pointed toward my cubicle. I took the hint and turned tail.

Back in my cubicle, I devoured my BLT in a series of large bites followed by ungraceful, food-falling-out-the-corner-of-my-mouth chews. It left a pile of scraps on the plate that seemed almost as big as the original sandwich, so I quickly scooped them into my mouth before chewing ungracefully once again. I was glad I had hurried through lunch when there was a commotion out in the main area.

Ever since Ranger had been gone, arguments had been sprouting up about the most insignificant things you could imagine. They were worse than the kids at times, if you can believe it. I made my way out to the large, normally empty, carpeted space in the middle of the comm. centre to find a ring of enormous muscled men all calling out and jeering. I caugt a glimpse of a pair of grappling figures in the centre and pushed myself through to the inside. Pulling the whistle out from down my shirt where I stashed it habitually, I stuck it in my mouth, held my hands up and blew out a lungful of air. The circle of men were silenced at once and stood at attention, the grappling pair fell to their backsides and were looking up at me rather dazedly.

"What are the rules?" I asked in my authoritative voice.

"No fighting, arguing, grappling, or otherwise showing violence or negative energy on the comm.. floor," they all recited in perfect, rumbling harmony.

"And?"

"All disagreements are to be taken directly to Steph ("Bomber," I heard a few of them substitute) to be resolved in an orderly fashion. If you require a physical encounter with the other party a gym time will be appointed to you."

"So?" The ring dispersed, leaving the guys on the floor staring sullenly at the carpet. I stood over them in the power stance I had perfected in recent weeks (it worked on the guys as well as the kids). "What do you have to say for yourselves?" I prompted.

"Sorry for disturbing the office's positive energy flow," they mumbled dutifully, still gazing at the floor.

I took the, into Ranger's office and closed the door, making sure they sat separated; one on the couch against the wall, the other in one of the visitors chairs near the desk. I planted my ass on the polished wooden surface in between the laptop and the "In" tray. They kept their eyes averted in shame, or embarrassment, I wasn't sure which, but I was strictly forbidden to see either emotion on their faces according to guy code. "What happened?" I asked.

"He was making lewd comments about my baby sister!" Hal exclaimed from the chair, and while it was clearly an exclamation, it was only loud enough that we, in the room, could hear.

"I was just saying that she looked nice in her prom dress," Junior defended.

"Oh, and I suppose sweet luscious ass was just you admiring the fall of the skirt?" Hal retaliated.

"It was in conjunction with it."

"Bullshit!"

They shot such comments back and forth for several minutes until they seemed like they were going to pounce at each other again and I blew the whistle to bring it to a halt.

"Sorry, Steph," they both muttered as they fell silent, staring back down at the floor once more.

"If this is going to continue to happen I'm going to have to talk to the tech department about filtering websites so that anything not work related, like Facebook, will be banned. Do you want that do happen?" They shook their head obediently. "Well then, you," I pointed a finger at Junior, "Keep your comments to yourself. And you," I turned the fearsome finger on Hal, "Tell Kimmi safeguard her profile so that only her friends can view her photos if you're that worried about it. I don't want to have to keep breaking up these silly squabbles, are we clear?"

"Yes, Steph."

"Good, now get back to work."

They left quickly and without a word, leaving me in the silent solitude that was my husbands' office. I sat down behind the desk and fired up the computer to leave today's note. I'd made a habit of coming in here once a day and leaving a short note about how things were going, sometimes adding in a few little tidbits that had been bothering me, always ending with assuring Ranger that I loved him. They were all in a document, complete with photos of the kids, marked "URGENT: Read Me!" It would be the first thing he did when he got to his office after returning; it wasn't like he could miss it, it was the only icon on the desktop. I knew he would be grateful for the informal running commentary of his time away. Progress reports bored even him to death.

"Mummy?" came Laura's voice from the doorway. Can't run, can't hide. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Leaving a not for when Daddy gets back," I replied, adding the time and date to the end of today's entry and saving the document. "Why? What's wrong?"

She came around to my side of the desk and looked deeply into my eyes. "Nothing's wrong with me. What's wrong with you?" She continued gazing into my eyes as she waited for an answer.

"Nothing's wrong, sweetheart, but you're freaking me out a little with your staring. Are you sure everything's okay?" Her only reply was a short nod as she hoisted herself up so that her torso was lying on Ranger's desk and her feet were dangling. She grabbed the family photo from the corner and let herself drop back to the floor with a thud. I wrapped my arms around her middle so she couldn't get away, as I knew she had intended to do. "Where are you going with that?" I asked.

"Uncle Tank needs it," she informed me, spinning in my arms to hug and kiss me. "Love you, Mummy. Don't come near Uncle Tank's office."

"Let me guess: Top Secret Business?"

"Yup." She grinned, planted another kiss on my cheek and wriggled free of my grasp.

_If you like what you see, please review. If no one reviews I shan't continue._


	2. Da Ba Da!

_Standard Disclaimers Apply. Any mistakes are the result of my lecturer loudly emphasising important points while I was trying to edit this chapter. How inconsiderate. Thanks to everyone how took the time to leave me their wonderfully encouraging reviews for the last chapter, keep 'em coming if you want more._

**Chapter 2**

I parked in the garage attached to the house when we arrived home after dinner that night, just like I had promised Tank and every other Merry Man who'd asked me during our shared meal. Laura unbuckled herself and crawled out, waiting patiently while I handed her the Everything backpack, let Em out to toddle alongside his older sister and lifted a sleeping Bailey from her car seat. She didn't stir when I picked her up, nor when I laid her down in her crib upstairs, which is a miracle in and of itself, so I went back down to the kitchen to find Laura and Em waiting for me. Laura had her head on the table, her eyelids drooping further with every passing minute, while Em played idly with a wooden spoon on the floor.

"You can head on up to bed, honey," I told her, lifting my boy onto my hip. She had been a huge help with the twins of late. I'm not sure I would have survived this long without her. "I'll be up in a minute to read to you." Fact was, though, she was still a little kid and, as much as she acted like an adult at times, she needed her little kid routines as well. Bedtime was one of these. I think that was part of the reason she loved going to work with me so much as well. There she didn't have to be the big girl and help Mummy, she could just be crazy little Laura out to entertain her uncles. There was no pressure.

She kissed my hip and her brother's foot and was on her way.

"What about you?" I asked Em when she was gone. "Are you sleepy yet?" He shook his head but did not make a noise. _Shocker_. "Well, okay then, you can listen to the story as well." His smile widened and he put his head on my shoulder as I climbed the stairs. "Which book?" I asked, entering Laura's bedroom, but she was already asleep, cuddling the purple teddy bear her father had given her for her fourth birthday in one hand, and the Raggedy Anne doll my father had given her for her fifth just two months before.

She had been supremely upset when Daddy had not been there for her birthday, but the copious amounts of gifts the Merry Men and her grandparents showered on her seem to take her mind off his absence long enough for her to enjoy the party Ella had put together in the seventh floor apartment. And we taped the entire event so that she could share it with him when he did eventually make it home.

"Looks like it's just you and me," I said to Em, on our way back down the hall. "Are you gonna talk for me?" Again, he shook his head, smiling. "Fine. You don't have to talk. I don't mind. You can just act out what the secret in Uncle Tank's office is." I laughed when he gave me his best glare, crossing his tiny arms over his chest. "I'll take that as a no, shall I?" He gave a curt nod and pointed to the room he shared with his sister, sticking his thumb in his mouth at the same time. "To bed," I agreed.

Ranger had voiced his concerns on many occasions about his only son's reluctance to talk. Once or twice he'd suggested taking him to a speech therapist, but I flat out refused. It eventually took Ella, Mama Manoso, my mother _and myself_ to convince him that Emmanuel would speak when he was ready to and not before. Of course, this did not quell his fears, only quieted them a little.

Another two weeks passed before I finally found out what was going on behind Tank's door.

It was a Friday and the Merry Men had been acting strangely toward me the entire morning. Every time I had a moment free to update Ranger's file, one of them would insist they need my assistance right that very minute. They kept asking me how I was holding up as well, the answer to which grew progressively snarkier as the morning wore on until it was nothing more than a wordless snarl. To top things off, I hadn't seen the kids since we first arrived. Things were getting fishier and fishier.

I was feeling very rejected by the time I paused for a lunch break, standing alone in the kitchenette eating my salad roll. Bailey entered as I was brushing crumbs from my shirt. "Ma!" she insisted, grabbing at my hand. "Ma, Un-ta." We made it to the door before Emm was there, silently grabbing my other hand and dragging me in the direction of Ranger office.

Laura was standing guard at the door, arms crossed and legs spread shoulder width apart.

"What's up?" I asked as the twins continued to tug on m arms.

"Un-ta pize!" Bailey informed me. I knew what Un-ta was, _Uncle Tank,_ but what a 'pize' is was utterly beyond me.

"Uncle Tank has something he needs your help with," Laura translated, rather loosely I assumed. "But you can't tell anyone else about it," she added, inching open the door enough to poke her head in, then pulling back and snapping it shut. When she turned back to us he said, "Okay, he's ready. You can go in."

I pushed the door open and nearly fell on my ass from shock. I'm not sure what I'd been thinking Tank could possibly need my help with, but it definitely was nothing like what I was now faced with. Most of the Merry Men were crammed into the room under a colourful banner that read "Happy Birthday Ranger/Daddy/Carlos/Boss." The banner was obviously handmade and had a lot of influence from the kids, I could see the brightly coloured hand prints along with smears of paint all over.

"SURPRISE!" they all exclaimed. _I guess that's what a 'pize' is._

There was a video camera pointed straight at me, catching every stunned tear that slid down my face. On the one hand, I was touched that they would go to so much trouble, but on the other, I was so utterly confused as to why they would throw a surprise party if the birthday boy wasn't there. I was completely speechless nonetheless.

"Why?" I managed to choke out after a few more teary, sentimental moments of admiring the banner and the assembled guests.

"Dab a!" Bailey told me, by which I presume she meant _Daddy's Birthday_.

"It's Daddy's Birthday," Laura confirmed. "He needs a party."

"That's not all we're celebrating though, is it Squirt?" Lester prompted from behind the camera. She shook her head, a dazzling smile growing on her lips. "What else is today?"

"Two years since we been here," she answered confidently. "And we made presents!" she added proudly, leading me over to a previously blank wall that now had four sheets hanging from it. Three in a row, with the fourth above the middle. "I did this one." Laura tugged the first sheet down.

What she revealed was a framed painting of some trees and flowers and five stick figures which represented the five members of her family, her included. In the bottom left corner Tank had written "Laura, 5." I admired it for several long moments, praising her efforts before Bailey practically hauled me over to the last sheet in line. She tugged lightly on the sheet, but it didn't move. Tank removed it for her so that I could see her artwork. Also done with paints, Bailey's picture was comprised with a series of pink and purple hand prints in a circle with a yellow splodge in the middle and a green squiggle coming off it so that it looked like a flower. It was a bit smudged in places, but beautiful all the same.

When I had finished exclaiming over Bailey's presentation, Em was standing meekly by my side. "Which is yours?" I asked him. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and pointed to the middle bottom sheet. I'd come to recognise his thumb sucking as a sign that he was either tired, like last night, or nervous, like right now. Tank pulled the third sheet down and I was rendered speechless once more at what I saw. It was _magnificent_. I couldn't tell you exactly what the painting was, but I was riveted. As far as I could tell, it was a finger painting done in pinks, oranges, blues, greens and a bit of black here and there.

"Did you help with this?" I asked Tank in barely a whisper, never shifting my gaze from the framed painting. Every second I stared at it something else caught my eye within. I heard the camera zoom and a few footsteps as Lester came in for a better look at the painting as well as to catch everything I said.

"I sat him down and showed him what the paints were for, but after that he wouldn't even let me touch it. Worked on it meticulously."

"He did this by himself?" I had to clarify. As you can probably tell, I was having a hard time grasping the concept.

"It's one hundred percent, Em Manoso original," he assured me. "I held the paper for Bailey though, because it wouldn't stay still." This statement was followed by an "Ow!" and I assumed Bailey had kicked him in the shin, as was her speciality. Rough as guts, that one.

The squiggles and dots before me were so mesmerising that I lost track of time staring at it, until Em pulled lightly on my pants leg. I turned my attention to him, sucking his thumb persistently and looking up at me with expectant, worried eyes.

"Baby, I love it! It's the most remarkable thing I've ever seen!"

He shined the shiest, most amazing smile ever to grace the earth at me before hiding his face in my leg. _Cute_ would be the word I'd use to describe him at this moment, if I hadn't promised Ranger I wouldn't ever use that word in relation to our son. There was a collective "aww" from the room, as there often is when the kids are doing something. I know the guys wanted to call Em cute as well, but they were deathly afraid of the Boss, and this was being recorded.

"There's one more!" Laura exclaimed, interrupting the moment.

"More! More!" Bailey agreed, jumping up and down excitedly.

I sighed. Never a dull moment with this lot. Not a one. "Alright, let's see it." Tank pulled down the final sheet and my breath caught in my throat. It was a portal of the three of them, smiling brightly off the canvas. The piece was exquisite.

"Do you like it?" Tank asked, a bit anxiously, I thought.

"How could I not?" I told him, the already huge grin on my face widening even more. "It's lovely. Who'd you get to do it?"

To my surprise, he blushed. "The skin tones are a bit off, and I've always had a problem with hands and ears." He rambled on a bit more about other imperfections before I finally caught on.

It was like a blast of cold air straight to the face. "You did this?" I must admit, I was shocked. "_You?"_

"Un-ta!" Bailey confirmed, as loud as ever. Tank, on the other hand, just nodded an odd look of hope in his eyes that was completely out place on him.

"I had no idea no idea you could paint!" I admonished, slapping him on the chest, which did little more than hurt my hand. "Why didn't I know you could paint?"

He let out a breath in a gushing _whoosh_ and beamed at me with relief. "Anyone can paint, Bomber." This was true, but it didn't answer my question.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You never asked," he countered.

"I did too!" I exclaimed, hands on hips. "It was just before! I said 'I had no idea you could paint! Why didn't I know you could paint?"

He was smirking now, playing with me. "I know what you said. You never asked."

I gave him my best burg glare. "Tank," I warned, just like I would one of the kids. "don't play dumb with me, or I'll bring you down to my level and beat you with experience."

A soft chuckle escaped him and he crossed his arms nonchalantly over his chest, as if to say, _Go on then, I dare you._ It was Lester, however, who spoke up from behind the camera. "Relax Steph."

Turning my attention, however briefly, to him I snapped, "You stay out of this."

Tank cleared his throat. "The reason you did not know I could paint," he said slowly and clearly, enunciating each word with determined precision. "is you never asked me if I could."

"How was I supposed to know to ask you that?"

His grin widened. "Beats me."

#

I decided to work from Ranger's office for the rest of the day, despite the messy aftermath of the impromptu party, so that I could continue to admire the paintings. As a result I achieved very little in the way of searches, not that I usually managed to get much done anyway. I just couldn't keep my eyes off Ems artwork. Hours, I stared at it, and never did I see the same thing in it two minutes in a row. I loved it. It was like his heart and soul on paper. That the best I can do to describe it, and even that does not do it justice.

"Interesting, isn't it?" A voice from the doorway interrupted my latest bout of admiration. "I've never seen anything like it below second year Art College. And even then we were studying the piece, not painting it." Tank was leaning against the door frame, fresh from his most recent capture. "He's an artist for sure."

I'm sure Ranger will love that revelation. His only son, an artist. "He didn't get it from me," I told him. "I can't draw to save myself."

"You're right," he agreed, a silly smile on his face. "He definitely gets it from me." We paused a moment to giggle over that. "Ranger was somewhat artsy in high school," he eventually explained. "Pretty good with a pencil, disastrous with a paint brush though. His true calling was photography. Even went to a summer program on it."

"So what happened?" I asked, genuinely curious, unlike when Laura came home from play group and decided to tell me every intricate detail that passed.

"He discovered girls liked him."

"No kidding."

There was a long minute of silence as our eyes were drawn back to the frames on the wall. Ranger was so lucky. He'd be able to sit at his desk all day and gaze at the fruits of his children's labour. What did I have? A few photo frames crammed onto the corner of my desk.

"Anyway," Tank said, breaking through my thoughts once again. "Ella's bringing the kids down from their nap now and Bailey is not happy about something."

I laughed despite myself. "Tell me something new."

"She's not screaming about it," he said, deadly serious.

"Oh." My brows furrowed as I thought about that for a moment. She always screamed, it was her way. "That _is_ new."

"Yeah." He didn't have time to say anything more on the matter, as Laura came bounding in, all smiles and bouncing curls. Bailey, as usual, was next through the door, though a polar opposite to her sister today. She wasn't screaming, or crying, or stomping, or scowling, but she was definitely upset. Em was last to arrive, as a result of not having the courage to push past his sisters. He ran straight to me and attempted to climb up onto my lap. I picked him up, but instead of sitting him on my knee like I usually did, I placed him on the desk, next to the computer keyboard I knew he would not touch.

"Did you have a good nap?" I asked. A silent nod. An enthusiastic _Yeah_. And a bottom hitting the ground in a huff.

Emm grabbed the empty water bottle that was on the desk and was playing happily with it. That boy had no need for actual toys; he could make fun out of anything, given the chance. And yet everyone kept buying him the blasted things anyway. I left Em on the desk (Tank was close enough to catch him if he strayed too close to the edge, not that he would), passed Laura, swinging back and forth from the handle of the door (I pretended I didn't see that), and approached Bailey. She was facing the corner near that leather couch, moving a single napkin from place to place around her. I watched her for a moment until she wriggled around to face me. "Da," she said solemnly.

"You miss Daddy. I know. He'll be home as soon as he can."

"Da home!" This statement was slightly louder than the last, indicating that we were possibly heading toward her usual screaming hissy fit.

"When he can, honey. We have to be patient."

She hugged me tightly then, and babbled incoherently for a while, ending with "Dad home now."

#

I was caught off guard when I arrived home that night. There were lights blazing from the kitchen and living room windows. My immediate thought was that I had accidentally left them on this morning. Or maybe Laura had. I stopped the car at the entrance to the driveway and turned to Laura, sitting in the middle back seat. "Did you leave lights on this morning?" I asked, silently hoping she had.

She gave me a quizzical look instead, and replied, "We don't use the lights in the morning. The sun helps us see. Don't you 'member?" She was right, of course, and that freaked me out enough that I drove up two houses and parked at the curb. "What are we doing?" she asked as I got out my cell phone. "Home's back there."

"Calling Uncle Lester," I replied, proud of how I managed to keep the panic I was feeling from my voice. "Just sit tight."

"Hey Steph, make it home alright?" Lester was sounding way too perky for my current situation. I cut right to the chase.

"Did any of the guys have any maintenance to do on the house today?" I asked hopefully. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for a couple of the Merry Men to update security systems, clean out rain gutters, change light bulbs et cetera, especially since Ranger had been away. They preferred to get the work done during work hours while the kids and I were at the Rangeman so that they didn't get distracted by two toddlers pulling at their pants legs, or conned into a game of go fish with Laura.

There was a short pause on the other end of the phone line. "No, why? What's wrong?"

"The lights are on."

Another short pause. "You didn't just accidentally leave them on this morning?" Now he was the one sounding hopeful.

"We don't use lights in the morning during summer unless it's raining," I told him, then quoted Laura for good measure. "The sun helps us see."

He muttered a few expletives and then promised to be there in ten minutes or my money back. By the time he pulled to the curb behind us nine and a half minutes later I was on the footpath, pacing. The twins were both fast asleep in their car seats and Laura was watching my with interest with her legs dangling out of the front passenger door. I could tell there were thousands of questions on her mind, but she did not voice any of them. "You should have stayed in the car with the doors locked," was the first thing Lester said when he stepped out of his SUV.

I ran to hug him, thankful for his appearance. "I did for the first five minutes, but I couldn't sit still."

"Mummy needs to run," Laura interjected, hopping down and skipping to her Uncle.

"You're right," Lester said, shucking her under the chin. "You stay here, I'll be back in a minute." He was down the street and up the drive in the blink of an eye. I thought briefly about giving him my key in case the door was locked, but figured he didn't need one. Barely a minute passed before my cell rang in Laura's pocket. "It's safe to come up," Lester told me. He sounded strange.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

He snorted. _Actually snorted!_ Before assuring me that everything was fine. I got Laura buckled into the front seat and drove up the driveway where Lester met me. A huge grin on his face.

"What?" I asked suspiciously. It was hard not to be suspicious when Les was grinning like this. It was like an omen.

"Nothing."

"No sign of forced entry?"

"Definitely not."

"So what is it?"

"You'll see." He started off toward his car.

"_What??_" I yelled after him. "You're leaving me here alone?!"

"He's perfectly harmless," Les called over his shoulder as he reached the gate. "Just go on in."

_Who is in the house? Will Em ever talk? When will Ranger be back? Will Ranger be back? Again, if you want to know what happens next, leave me a review._


	3. Surprise!

_Okay, so that took a little longer than I thought, but I think it's because I had a million and one assessments this week and I actually wrote most it during my history and mind, culture and difference lectures. So, for those impatient reviews (whom I love so much because it makes me want to continue writing that much more) here it is. Savour it, because I'm not sure I'll have time to write more this week._

Chapter 3

Holding my breath, I parked in the garage and went through to the kitchen, leaving the kids in the car with the doors locked just in case. My chest was beginning to ache with the need to draw breath, but it was drowned out by the persistent thumping of my heart against my ribcage. The moment I opened the door I could smell something inviting cooking. Thoughts were running through my mind a million miles a minute. Was it Ranger? Mum? Ranger? Dad? Ranger? Mama Manoso? Ranger? Joe? I crossed Joe off the list of possible almost as soon as he made it on there. For a start he would never be able to get past the security (the house was under twenty four hour surveillance... hey, why didn't I remember that fifteen minutes ago?) and second, things were still pretty tense between us.

I was really liking the idea of Ranger making it home in time for a family dinner on his birthday, but I wasn't too hopeful, after all, I'd had the same feelings when the doorbell rang on Laura's birthday. I'd built my hopes and dreams up so high on the short walk from the kitchen to the front door, only to have them come crashing down the moment I saw that unfamiliar, uncaring face. Stupid sales man.

"Hello?" I called, tip toeing around the table in the centre of the empty space and approaching the door to the hall. "Who's here?" I didn't want to step out into the hall for two simple reasons. One: if Lester was wrong and whoever it was was capable of harming us, I didn't want to give him a free shot by standing in the line of fire. Two: if Lester was wrong and whoever it was was capable of harming us, I didn't want to stray too far from the kids in case he decided to circle around and... well... I'm not sure what my mind thought was going to happen if he entered the garage, because at the very moment the thought crossed my mind a loud crash met my ears from the garage. Somebody screamed, and I'm not sure if it was me or Laura, and then the twins were crying.

I ran as fast as my feet would take me back to the kids. The light I had switched on before leaving was now out and I could hear someone groaning and stumbling around. Yet another sucker falls victim to the low hanging light fixture, I thought with a grim smile. I had brained myself on the wretched thing countless times, and even Ranger was not immune to its awesome power.

In the dim glow cast by the kitchen light Laura fumbling around the steering wheel. My heart was in my throat. I hope she's not doing what I think she's doing. Bracing myself for the roar of the car engine, I was stunned by the blinding light that filled the space. So, it seemed, were the twins, as they abruptly quit their crying and sat blinking just where I left them

"Who's there?" I asked the bent figure on the other side of the car. "Show yourself." With his hands above his head he slowly rose so that his face was illuminated by the headlights. I let out the breath I had not realised I'd resumed holding and raced to him. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright?"

"Fine," he grumbled, rubbing his forehead. "Is this bleeding?"

Glad for the relief, I chuckled, shaking my head. "No, you're fine."

"Gampy!" Bailey squealed with excitement, clawing at her straps. "Gampy! Gampy! Gampy!"

"Hey squirts." My father smiled and waved to the grinning children. "Have a good day?" They all nodded with great enthusiasm while I continued my attempts to get my heart rate under control.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Cooking dinner," he informed me. "Risotto okay?"

I shook my head again, baffled. "It's fine. I just wish you would have called to let me know you were here. You scared me half to death."

"Sorry, Pumpkin. I didn't think."

Laura scrambled across the console to the passenger seat and unlocked her door. Dad caught her just as she was about to jump down. "Careful, Loza," he cautioned. "There's broken glass down there. We don't want you cutting you feet." He carried her over to the kitchen door and set her down with a pat on her curly head. "Stay here while Gampy cleans up."

"I've got it, Dad," I assured him, picking my way carefully through the shards to the dust pan and brush. Before I could make it more than three steps, however, I was grabbed around the waist and carried over to Laura. Another moment and a wriggling Bailey was thrust into arms, followed by Em's hand in Laura's. I sighed. "I'm a big girl, Dad, I can handle these things myself."

"You never let me fix things for you," he chastised me. "Not once in your life have you willingly let me fix something for you."

With the pout I had learned at the age of three and perfected when Laura was the same age, I countered, "What about the time Val broke my rocking chair?"

"You were five. You had no woodwork skills." He'd already begun sweeping up the mess, so there really was no point in arguing further. "Go get a start on dinner," he insisted, and that was a good enough resolution for me. I had just finished dishing up a plate for Laura when I heard a loud curse from the garage followed swiftly by Dad calling, "I'm fine, don't worry, just keep doing what you're doing." When he came inside he had the middle finger on his left hand wrapped in what appeared to be his hankie. Fortunately, for the sake of the kids, it was a navy colour and any blood smears that might have been visible in a lighter colour were masked. "Where's the first aid kit?" he asked.

"You never told me why you're here," I accused as he stood at the sink doing the dishes, again, he'd refused my help. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to cook dinner for you," he said with a shrug, placing another plate in the drainer. "Is that so bad?"

"What's the other reason?"

He gave me a sheepish smile over his shoulder. I was sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, Laura was doing a puzzle next to me and the twins were upstairs asleep. All in all, the house was pretty quiet. "Your sister's there. With the kids. And they're staying the night."

"Oh," I uttered. "I understand completely. Do you want to stay here tonight?"

"I was hoping you'd say that. Also, I want to take you and the kids somewhere tomorrow and it'd be a lot easier if we all started from here."

"I'll go set up the guest bed for you."

#

"Where are we going?" I was strapped into the front passenger seat of my SUV with Dad driving. The sock he had tied around my eyes blocked out any light that would have made it to my eyes. It was very disorienting, not just in the sense that I didn't know which direction we were travelling in, but also, it made me extra sensitive to turns. So much so that the slightest swerve felt like the car tipping sideways, as a result I was gripping the sides of the seat tight enough that I'm sure my knuckles were white.

Dad just chuckled and patted my thigh, which caused me to jump. "You'll see," he told me reassuringly. "You'll see."

"Not if you keep this damn sock on my face," Laura exclaimed from between the two car seats in the back. She, too, was blindfolded as an added precaution in direct reaction to the spilled information on the party the Merry Men had been planning for my birthday last year. Everybody had come to recognise that she kept almost nothing from me and so now, any secret from me, that did not involve her, was a secret from her by extension.

"Watch you language, Loza," Dad chastised good naturedly.

She huffed. "Mummy can say it, why can't I?"

"You mummy shouldn't be saying it either," he said sternly. I imagined him giving me that look. The look that could stop me in my tracks from the age for two until the time I reached puberty. Now it was more of a reminder than anything truly threatening. "I taught her better than that."

"Sorry Daddy," I mumbled at the same time Laura grumbled, "Sorry Gampy."

We were all silent for a while, Dad driving his mystery route to wherever, me flexing my cramping fingers against the seat, Bailey gabbling away quietly to herself, probably gazing out the window at the scenery passing by, Laura was doing God only knows what, and Em, well, I had doubts at times that he was even there. If it hadn't been for the fact that I had strapped him into his car seat myself, I would have sworn we'd left him back home, whichever way that was. I'm not sure how much time passed before I heard the first distinct, identifying sound over the soft tones of the classical music Dad insisted on listening to when the kids were in the car; something to do with brain development. I flinched when the sound hit me, but relaxed a little as it persisted, rolling over and over me.

"Damn!" Bailey exclaimed when it was quiet again.

Dad sighed. "Not you too!"

"Why are we at the airport?" I asked calmly, determined not to let myself get too hopeful. There was probably a perfectly logical explanation that had nothing to do with my husband coming home. Still, my heart had skipped a beat when I'd realised where we were.

"You'll see," Dad repeated.

"Not if you keep us blindfolded!" I told him at the same moment Laura cried something similar.

When we got inside Dad led us straight to the arrivals lounge, pushing an amazingly cheerful Bailey in the double wide pram (Bailey hated being in the pram). Em was on my hip, a huge grin on his face. As the arrivals lounge came into sight I heard Bailey's half muttered, "Da...?" It was when I had almost reached the entrance, however, that the most amazing thing happened. Em, whom I'm sure I have asserted often enough is as silent as a church mouse nine times out of ten, started chattering wordlessly by my ear. I stopped dead in my tracks and listened carefully.

It took Dad a moment to realise I had stopped, but when he glanced back at me I gave the biggest, happiest, beamingest toothy grin I'd allowed in a long while. He gave a slightly confused smile in return and I hurried to catch up.

Dad found us a recently vacated area in which we could sit and wait for – I really hope it's Ranger – whoever it was we were waiting for. I grabbed a sketch pad I had picked up on the way home yesterday and a pack of crayons from the everything bag on my back and set Em down on the floor with them. That got me a weird look from Dad and I realised I hadn't told him about Em's artwork yet. I related the tail while Laura helped Em open the book and grab out a few crayons. When I was finished we sat watching the kids for a bit until Dad cocked his head to the side as if listening intently to something.

"Is that -?" he asked and I nodded. "He's talking?"

"Not quite," I said quietly. "He just started chattering on the way in."

"So that's why -?" I nodded again with a huge grin, cutting him off.

I'd almost forgotten where we were and what we were doing when Em suddenly lifted his head and looked straight at me. "Dad," he said, and I nearly fell off my chair. To make matters even weirder, a moment later a steady stream of people started streaming into the room some heading straight for the doorway at the other end, some talking on the phone while checking facts or emails, or whatever on Palm Pilots and some being engulfed by warm familial hugs. I didn't care for any of them, however, because as the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention my eyes locked with my favourite man in the entire world. My husband.

I'd crossed to him in barely more than a second, leaving Dad and the kids behind in an almost dust cloud.

No words were exchanged before we were chest to chest, toe to toe, groin to groin, lip to lip, for the first time in over three months. He kissed me hard and I could feel just how much he'd missed me.

"You just missed it!" I exclaimed as I tore my lips from his a moment later. "Em just said his first word!" He simply grinned in response. "Laura's going to be at you about a present, you know. You missed her birthday." I paused for a second in realisation. "You missed your birthday!"

Before he could say anything the kids were upon us. Laura launched herself into his arms, squealing the entire time, while Bailey and Em each hugged a leg. Once Laura had quieted down I could hear Bailey chanting, "Da! Da! Da! Da! Da ba!" Em, after his brief visit to the vocal world, was back to his usual silent self. Ranger lowered himself into a crouch, careful to avoid knocking the twins over, and engaged them all in a group hug. I got a warm, fuzzy feeling in my gut as I watched on. He squeezed each one of them in turn, placing a huge kiss on their foreheads. When he looked up at me his smile faltered a little. It was barely noticeable before it disappeared, but I did, and it scared me.

He stood when the kids had calmed down a little and closed the short distance between us. Taking my face in his hands, he kissed me for all I was worth, and judging by the amount of tongue lashings I received, I was worth a fair bit. When he had thoroughly devoid my lungs of oxygen he leaned back a little, swiped a finger across my cheek and showed me the moisture he'd found there. I sniffed and wiped away the tears then smiled at him.

"No testament to you kissing ability, don't worry."

Dad had arranged for one of the Merry men to drive him home so that we didn't have to all cram into the SUV, and also so that we could have family catch up time. I was in the driver's seat with Ranger in the front passenger, turned half way around to listen to Laura babbling about everything. No one else managed to get a word in the whole trip. It was just Laura giving a running commentary of the entire time her dear, darling father was away. She was still going on about something or other (I had pretty much tuned her voice out) when I parked in the garage off the kitchen, just out of habit.

Ranger gave me a curious look but did not comment. He simply kissed me again for about the thousandth time since we left the airport, and started to help the kids out of their seats. I'd intended on doing it myself – again, out of habit – or at least helping, but when I opened the back door on my side and started to undo Em's seat belt, Ranger slapped my hands away. Confused, curious and slightly shocked, I took a step back and crossed my arms over my chest.

Laura kept talking.

We herded the kids into the living room.

Laura was still yabbering away.

I went into the kitchen to prepare some lunch.

Laura's voice carried through the doorway to me ceaselessly.

I know she'd missed him, but this was getting to beyond a joke. How much can she possibly have stored in that pretty little head that she could remember to tell her father the moment she saw him? On the other hand, I didn't want to be mean and tell her to stop. It had, after all, been a long time since she'd last seen him and a lot had had happened. Plus, I had the feeling that Ranger was enjoying her monologue. So I let her chatter all the way through lunch.

Finally, she shut her gob when we were back in the living room after lunch and Ranger produced three brightly wrapped boxes from the duffle bag he'd dropped in the hall. A hot pink box with an orange ribbon for Laura. A purple box with sunshine ribbon for Bailey. And a lime green box with the same yellow ribbon for Emmanuel. He gave them out then sat down with a content sigh in the easy chair near the window, patting his thigh in invitation for me. I accepted without hesitation and relaxed back into him as the kids tore into their presents.

To be fair, Laura was the only one tearing into hers. Bailey was clawing determinedly, yet fruitlessly, at the paper, while Em was picking at the sticky tape, trying to get in that way. Eventually Bailey got fed up and plopped it in my lap.

"Ma do," she grumbled, crossed her arms, a sour look on her face.

"I undid the ribbon and made a bit of a tear in the paper to start her off, then handed it back to her. She looked at it briefly, huffed out a breath and shoved it back at me.

"No. Ma do."

Over on the couch I noticed Laura already sitting amongst a pile of paper staring reverently at the black box she had revealed. Curious, I began gently unwrapping Bailey's present. It was another black box, just like Laura's. Turning it over I discovered a little purple rubber duck wearing a pair of yellow sunglasses, looking very much like a diva, which made me laugh. How appropriate!

"Mommy!" Laura exclaimed, running toward me. "Look what I got!" Hers was a hot pink duck with brunette, curly pigtails (entirely made of the same rubber) and orange bows. "Isn't it so pretty?"

"It's beautiful, Loza," I agreed, handing Bailey her box-o-duck and turning my attention to the ever silent, yet persistent, Em. He'd somehow managed to removed the sticky tape from one end, which was now attached to his hand. Grabbing the other end of the box he started on the sticky tape there, realised the tape was on his hand and pulled it off. Tragically, it then attached itself to his other hand. He shook said hand, but the tape held fast. Using the free hand, he grabbed at the tape again with the same results. This brought up a grunt of frustration and I chuckled despite myself. He toddled over to Ranger and I, holding out the offending hand the entire time.

Ranger peeled away the attachment and received a short hug before Em was back to his box. While I watched him picking away at the second piece of tape Ranger's hand came up and stuck the first to my nose. I cut my eyes to him menacingly to which his only reply was a singular raised eyebrow and a grin.

_**The continuation of this story, as always, is based on the feedback I get. So hit that button and tell me what you think.**_


	4. Complications

_Well, I did say that I probably wouldn't be able to write anything this week, but I TOTALLY forgot about my extra, super boring education lecture. With all my extra rehearsal I didn't realise that I was still require to attend that snore fest. So here you go. After a twelve hour uni day, I came home and typed this up then fell asleep half way through and finished it this morning. Hope you appreciate my efforts. Also, I'm REALLY sorry if it seems like I'm being mean to the characters... it'll get better, I promise._

**Chapter 4**

Later that night I put the kids to bed and met Ranger back in the living room. He was picking up the books and toys that had been left on the floor throughout the day. When I entered, he dropped the objects in the box next to the couch and opened his arms for me. Without the slightest hesitation, I folded myself into his embrace, feeling the love and warmth I had longed for wash over me, mingled with something else I couldn't quite grasp.

"You haven't said a thing since you've been home," I murmured into his chest. "What's wrong?" He didn't answer, but I did sense a slight tensing and unease in his body. I looked up into his face. "Ranger?"

"Yeah Babe?" His voice was croaky, as if from being unused.

"What's wrong?" I repeated, feeling my eyebrows draw together in a mixture of concern and suspicion.

"Nothing's wrong," he assured me. "Everything's fine. I'm just happy to be home." As he continued to speak his voice became clearer, supporting my disuse theory. He was also speaking very softly.

I pushed away from his chest and crossed my arms over my own, glaring at him. "Don't give me that crap. I know you better than I know myself."

"Let's go to bed. I'm tired."

My blood boiled over and, against my better judgement, I hurled a closed fist at him. It hurt lie hell and achieved nothing my stupid subconscious indicated it would. I watched through the tears filling my eyes as he grabbed my hand and kissed it where it had made contact with his chest. He stroked the palm and placed another kiss there before holding the entire hand to his chest.

"Please?" he asked, a pleading look in his eyes. "Can we not ruin my first night home?"

With a giant of a sniff and a lot of self control I wasn't previously away I could muster, I pulled my hand away from him and re-crossed my arms. "You can go to bed if you want." I moved to the doorway and didn't turn back. "I'm not sharing a bed with you until you tell me what's going on, though." The moment I said it, I regretted it. I wasn't just punishing him now, I was punishing myself as well.

Not glancing back, because I knew my resolve would crumble if I did, I returned the sink filled with soaking dishes I had left earlier. I took a moment to calm myself, so I wouldn't smash the dishes against the bench top, and dry my eyes, so I could see what I was doing before plunging my hands into the lukewarm water. Barely three minutes had passed before he was standing directly behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. It took all my energy to resist the urge to lean into him. I hated being angry with him, but I hated him keeping secrets from me more. There was no way he was going to break my resolve on this, not even with his delectable affections which I'd been too long without. Taking a deep breath, I removed his hands from my body and promptly went back to the dishes.

"Are you coming to bed?" he asked softer even than before.

"I just want to finish these dishes," I told him, despite not having any intentions of going to bed. "You go ahead without me."

When I'd finished with the dishes I took a swig of the cooking sherry Ella had left, removed my jeans so that I was in only underwear and the oversized t-shirt I had donned earlier in the day, and settled into the couch for the night. MY sleep was fitful and I ended up coming fully awake, not for the first time, at six o'clock, confused and disoriented. Laura was standing over me, holding her new rubber duck. Beyond her I noticed the twins, sitting quietly on the floor, holding their own ducks.

"What's up?" I mumbled sleepily.

Laura cocked her head to the side and asked, "Why isn't you in bed with Daddy?"

"Mummy fell asleep here last night. What are you doing up?"

"I gots to run," she said plaintively, like I couldn't have guessed that was coming. "Emmy and Bai-Bai woked up when I dropped my ducky in the hall. I let them out."

"What about Daddy?"

"Sleeping."

"Okay, you get yourself some breakfast and get dressed and I'll take you to the park for a run around." She skipped off to the kitchen, leaving me with the twins. "What about you two? Need to run?" They gave me identical, cheeky grins and Em stuffed his fingers in his mouth. "Right, breakfast time then."

Before we left, I spelled out the words "Gots to run" on the fridge in the colourful alphabet magnets. In addition – because I didn't think he would think to look at the fridge – I left a note on the kitchen table.

_Dearest Husband,_

_I taking the kids to the park (approximate time of departure: 7am) so Laura can run. Probably go straight from there to Haywood. Hope you had a good sleep._

_Steph_

#

The guys were all rather concerned when we turned up at Rangeman at quarter to nine. It wasn't until they told me it was Sunday that I understood their worry. I never came in on a Sunday. Once I assured them it was just my scattered brain, they were happy to let me work a half day, but nothing more, even if they were a bit confused as to why I wasn't spending time with Ranger. As it turns out, I didn't even make it to lunch time before I was forced to stop.

I knew the moment Ranger arrived and what kind of mood her was in. Every sound in the room ceased to exist and I could feel the apprehension of every Rangeman employee pressing in on me. Laura squealed, "Daddy!" and I listened as three small pairs of feet scrambled across the floor toward the elevator.

"Where's Mummy?" he asked, his tone warmer than the Merry Men's reactions suggested it would be. I attributed this to the kids.

"Ma wo," Bailey informed him before dissolving into wordless chattering.

"Mummy's working," Laura confirmed.

I swallowed, bracing myself for impact and went to the doorway of my cubicle. Ranger handed Emmanuel off to Lester and suggested the girls go with Tank before approaching me. "A word. My office."

I nodded and followed, but didn't say anything, I wasn't that stupid. He was in scary mode and that, well, scared me. The door had barely clicked shut when he rounded on me. All I could do was shrink back against the door, hoping he would keep his hands to himself.

"You didn't come to bed last night," he seethed. "Why not?" I managed a confused blink. "Don't try to act confused, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Who's acting?" I asked timidly. "I... I know what you're talking about, y-yes, but also know that I told you my reasons last night."

"When?" he demanded, turning away from me to pace. "When did you tell me?"

I was absolutely terrified by this point and found myself stuttering worse than ever before in my life. "B-before I w-went int-to the k-k-k-kitchen to d-do the d-d-d-d-d-dishes." He wasn't looking at me, didn't even seem to have heard me. He was staring at something on the wall. "Ranger?" No response. I watched as he took several slow steps toward the wall without moving his gaze from whatever had caught his attention. Cautiously, so as not to startle him back into a rage, I moved so that I oculd see what it was he was staring at. Em's painting.

His head snapped in my direction suddenly. "Who did this?" he asked, the harshness of just a few moments ago almost completely gone.

"Emmanuel," I said softly, approaching his side with my arms protectively crossed in front of me. "All by himself. For your birthday."

He'd returned his gaze to the painting immediately after asking the question, and evidently had tuned out again. "Sorry?" he asked turning back to me. "I didn't catch that."

"Your son painted that for your birthday," I repeated, quickly getting annoying with his apparent lack of attention span. "All by himself."

"Emmanuel?" he asked incredulously. I nodded. "Em did this?"

As I replied and explained about the surprise party the Men and the kids had thrown I realised that he was staring at my lips. It was distracting. "And Tank said he hadn't seen anything on that level below... I'm not kissing you until you tell me why you're acting so strangely, so you can just stop staring longingly."

That got him to look me in the eye, but what he said knocked the air out of me. "I don't want to kiss you."

"What!!??" I exclaimed. _He _did_ just say that, right?_

"Let me explain," he started hurriedly, but I didn't let him get any further than that.

"Explain what?" I demanded. "That you're not attracted to me anymore? You think I'm repulsive? Well, I'm sorry if I don't measure up to your average exotic beauty after giving birth to three children. Maybe if you'd kept you manhood in your pants I'd be prettier."

"Babe, you know that's not what I mean," he tried. I couldn't stand his soothing tone.

"Don't try to make out like everything all hunky dory when they're not, Ranger, it doesn't work on me, I know you too well! If you're having doubts tell me and we'll work through them together! Just don't try to keep things inside!"

"I'm not-."

Something inside me snapped and I was screaming at him through a torrent of tears. Damned if I know what I was screaming, but I was screaming at him and that made me feel better, because now he was the one wearing the confused expression. When my lungs and voice gave out I was still crying. I couldn't believe he could be so insensitive. There were a thousand better ways to broach the subject of my unacceptable personal upkeep.

"Would you prefer me if I was blonde?" I croaked through my sobs. "If I got a boob job? What do you want from me?"

"There's nothing you can do to your physical appearance to make me love you any more that I already do," he said softly.

I gave a short, broken, outcry at that. "So it's my personality you're not attracted to?" I asked. "That's worse! If you have all these issues with me why did you marry me?"

"Babe, please look at me when you're talking to me..."

"It's my attitude?!"

"Babe –."

"That's it! I've had enough of your shit! I'm leaving!" I didn't even stop to grab my handbag from my cubicle, just went straight down to the garage and got into the first SUV I found with the keys still in the ignition. When I got to the gated exit it didn't open. I honked and waved my arm out the window. My cell phone rang in my pocket. _Control room._ "What?"

"Don't leave, Babe."

"I can do whatever I damn well please," I yelled. "You don't own me!"

"What about the kids," he asked.

This caused me to pause for a moment. _What _about_ the kids?_ "You take care of them for a while, see how you like it." I hung up, got out of the car without reparking it in a space, and exited through the pedestrian gate which opened no worries. From there I just kept walking. Expecting Ranger to sneak up on me at any moment. He didn't. And before I knew it I was in the middle of the burg.

_Review pretty please. I'll love you forever and ever._


	5. Revelations

_Now, don't tell anyone, but I skipped and mildly important rehearsal for the uni choir in order to compete in an Eisteddfod for another choir and while waiting for various adjudications and our turn to perform, I wrote this chapter on the back of my programme. So, if it sounds like a song, I'm sorry. I don't think it does though. Thanks to all those who reviewed previous chapters, hope you like this one just as much._

**Chapter 5**

_**Ranger's POV**_

"Where's Mummy going?" I saw Laura ask in the reflection of the monitor she was facing.

How was I supposed to break this kind of thing to her? She was only five. What would Steph do in this situation? Stupid question. Steph wouldn't have let this situation come up. This is all my fault. What am I supposed to tell the kids? "She's gone shopping," I lied, barely hearing myself. "She'll be back later."

Laura spun around on Bobby's lap to face me. "You's lying. Mummy needs her bag to go shopping. That's where she keeps her money card."

"You're right," I conceded. "I was lying. Mummy just needed to go for a run."

She crossed her arms over her overall clad chest and gave me a knowing look. "Mummy _doesn't_ run. You is lying again. Nanma says liars goes to hell."

"Nanma is right," I responded automatically.

"So where's Mummy going?" she persisted.

"I don't know, Loza, I don't know."

"Why not?"

"Because Mummy didn't tell Daddy where she was going."

"Why not?"

"Because Mummy is angry at Daddy."

"Why?"

"Because Daddy said some things that Mummy took the wrong way."

"Why?"

"Because... I don't know, Laura, can't you just accept that?" I could feel the despair creeping up on me. I had no idea how to manage what had happened. I was as inexperienced with answering my daughter's questions as I was with changing diapers. And I had gone to great lengths to avoid changing diapers.

"Mummy says that there's a reason for everything."

"Mummy's right," I said automatically. I'd learned to give these responses at the drop of a hat. _Never tell the child that the woman is wrong, _my father had informed me on my sixteenth birthday, _they'll always go back with the information and the woman will rip you a new one._ That was probably the only useful piece of advice he'd given me.

"So what's your reason?"

I sighed. "I don't have one."

"You has to have one," she informed me. "Mummy said."

"I know what Mummy said!" I snarled, forgetting myself. "I don't bloody-well know the reason, just drop it!" To my horror – even as satisfaction mingled with it – she started to cry. Bailey and Emmanuel joined in and were suddenly lifted into the arms of nearby Rangemen who proceeded to comfort them. Breathing heavy, I took a couple of stumbling steps back before turning and retreating back to my office.

I didn't hear the knock on the door, which didn't surprise me, but I knew Tank must have knocked, as he always does. The only reason I noticed his presence was the movement I caught out of the corner of my eye as he entered the room. I looked up to find his expression hesitant. _So it should be. He just witnessed my descent into madness and hell simultaneously. _"What do you want?"

"I overheard your... conversation with Steph," he said. "I thought you might like to talk about what's going on. Why would you say something like that to her? She's an insecure, emotional wreck these days as it is..." he trailed off at my raised eyebrows. "You didn't know that did you?" I shook my head, too stunned to talk. "She had a bit of a break down about a month after you left. It was right around Laura's birthday. Didn't think you'd come back to her. She thought she'd be back to single parenthood, only with three of them instead of just one. She spent three days crying in that very chair. Once I calmed her down enough she started insisting that she was fat and ugly and that no one could love her, not even her parents. She turned to alcohol a couple of times before we cleared all the booze from the house. Then on we had someone with her at all times at work and we all pitched in taking care of the kids. We rewired the cameras you installed in the house so that they transmitted to the control room."

"She seemed fine..." I mentioned, confused. "She seemed..."

"I know."

"What...?"

"Les took Laura camping one weekend and Ella took the twins. We sent her off to a spa, cleaned the house for her while she was gone. Ella made up some meals and put them in the freezer. A week after that she seemed to be back to normal. Except the positive energy flow thing."

"Positive energy flow?"

"She insisted on a positive energy flow in the office. Instigated all these rules. There'd been fights breaking out between the men for no good reason. She insisted on personally dealing with them. Any problem went straight to her. I was a bit iffy about it at first, didn't want her to stress herself out again, but after a couple of days I realised that dealing with other people's problems was making her happy. So I let it go on."

"I've disrupted the positive energy flow, haven't I?" I asked sheepishly.

Tank simply nodded and sat down in the visitor's chair across from me. "Man, why'd you tell her you didn't want to kiss her?" His expression let me know just how perplexed he was.

Letting out a huge sigh, I replied, "Because it was the truth."

"So then why were you staring at her... you're staring at _my_... holy crap, you can't hear, can you?"

#

_**Steph's POV**_

By the time I realised where I was headed, my feet were sore, my throat ached and I was standing on the front poach of a very familiar house, ringing the doorbell I had rung a thousand times in a past life. I heard the dog barking on the other side of the door, followed by a muffled curse and a very distinct, "You're not going out, so drop it. Go chew on a table leg or something, you stupid mut." I leaned on the doorbell again and listened to the string of curses. "I'm _coming_ okay? Just hold your horses!"

"I don't have any horses to hold," I managed to call back in a reasonably normal voice. "And I don't think it's advisable to provide me with any either."

The barking stopped, as did the curses. "Steph?"

"Nope," I croaked. "It's the Easter Bunny, sorry I'm a bit late this year, the Tooth Fairy stole the keys to my Rabbit."

The door opened and Joe stood there, looking quite the same as he had every other time I'd ever seen him, unreasonably hot (not that I'd admit that to him and his ego). He hadn't shaved in at least three days, his hair was, as usual, in dire need of a cut, and his brows, though originally raised in surprise, quickly drew together with concern. One of his hands was holding the door open, the other was looped into Bob's collar as he struggled for freedom. "What's happened?" he asked, looking beyond me to the street in search of the car. Or perhaps the kids. "Where are the kids? Are they alright? Where's your car? You didn't walk here did you? Why have you been crying? Steph, talk to me."

I couldn't help it, I broke down. The tears I thought I'd run out of rolled down my face and I sniffed back enough not to choke an elephant. I'm sure it was a beautiful sound. He panicked for a moment, looked indecisive for a moment, seemed to make up his mind, then looked awkward for a moment before wrapping his arms around me in a reassuring hug. "He doesn't love me anymore," I sobbed hoarsely after a few minutes. "He doesn't find me attractive. He wants to leave me."

He made a few shushing sounds while stroking my hair, probably using the time to calm himself and formulate a reply. "We've been through this, honey, he's gonna come back when his mission is over and nothing is going to be any different than before he left. You've gotta have a little faith."

I wiped my eyes and gave him a half hearted smile for his efforts. "He did come back," I informed him, barely able to get a sound past my throat by this stage. "Yesterday. And he was acting strangely all day and then this morning he told me he didn't want to kiss me." Without warning I was crying again. I hated crying. I especially hated crying in front of people. And of all the people I hated crying in front of, men had to be the top of the list. Especially men I was close to. I wasn't a graceful crier at all. My cheeks went blotchy, my eyes red and puff and my nose ran like Niagara Falls. When I was a kid, I never cried. That's a lie. I cried once, but only for a short time, until Val slapped me upside the head and told me to get over it, that I was making her look bad. My family was just never one to show emotions, and as such, I learned not to show mine. Until I had Laura, at which point pretty much everything from the Burg flew out the proverbial window. Now it was all emotions all the time, I guess I shouldn't have held it all in during my childhood.

Joe ushered me inside and sat me down at the kitchen table while he went about fixing coffee. He grabbed a box of tissues left over from when he had the flu; I knew they had to be left over from some kind of sickness, because he just did not keep that kind of thing in stock all the time. When the coffees were ready he sat down opposite me and said, "You'd better tell me the entire story top to bottom just in case I go flying off the handle for no reason at all."

My jaw dropped independent of my brain and I stared at him open mouthed. "You think I'm not telling the truth?! You're just as bad as him!"

Panic flashed across his face again. "No. Steph. That's not what I mean. I'm sure everything you told me was true, I just need all the facts so that I know what I'm dealing with."

So I told him all that had happened since Ranger entered the arrivals lounge the day before, ending with, "And I just could take it anymore. I left."

"The kids are still with him?"

My voice, which had been cutting in and out, decided not to work at all when I tried to reply. I nodded and waggled my hand in an indication of "Sort of..."

He looked confused. "What does this," he mimicked my hand movement, "mean?"

I looked around at a loss, then grabbed the memo pad from the kitchen counter and the pen that was beside it.

_The kids are still at Rangeman, but not necessarily with him perse. They should be alright for a while, the Merry Men have taken care of them on countless occasions, and Ella's always there to help. If Ranger, ya know..._

"I know."

_What do I do?_

_

* * *

_

Please review. Pretty please?


	6. URGENT: Read Me!

_**Sorry it's been so long Uni is a complete and utter overlord and I am it's poop deck swabbing minion apparently. Anyway, I finally managed to get a chapter together by stealing time from the assignment I should have been working on. I'll knock it over on Sunday then practice for my performance exam. LE MAJOR SIGH. Hope you enjoy Steph's ramblings.**_

**Chapter 6**

Ranger stared at the closed door for a few moments after Tank left, think about what he'd said. It was true. He couldn't hear anything. Well, he could, but it was all faint over the ringing in his ears. Luckily he'd learnt to read lips back in high school so he knew what the girls were saying. He knew he had to do something to resolve the situation he'd somehow created with his wife and kids, but he couldn't think of anything to do that would make it better. He turned to his computer and found a a document on his otherwise spotless desktop labelled "URGENT: Read Me!". Curious and slightly alarmed, he opened it and began to read.

_4th March 2009, 12 noon (That's 1200 hours your time)_

_Sorry if I frightened you, but it got you to read this didn't it? That's the really important thing. Well, I think so; you don't have to think so. Just keep reading. Work can wait. No really it can. You need to read my thoughts, maybe you'll learn some stuff you didn't know before. Let's get the ball rolling..._

_You've been gone a whole twenty-four hours now and it feels like a lifetime has passed. The kids are constantly asking after you...Where's Daddy?... When will Daddy be home?... What's Daddy doing?... Is Daddy coming back?... Da?... Da ba?... Da do?... well okay, Laura and Bailey are asking after you, Emmanuel is still as silent as the day he was born. Remember that? The doctors thought there was something wrong with him. He's such a special little boy. Somehow managed to lock himself in one of the kitchen cupboards this morning after I informed the kids that you weren't home. I have no idea how he did it. Is it even possible to lock the cupboard from the inside? When did you put locks on the cupboards by the way? And how did Laura know that the key was in the cookie jar and I didn't? Why do you keep these things from me?_

_We're all missing you more than you could possibly imagine! Hurry home._

_5th March 2009, 1pm (That's 1300 hrs your time)_

_Forty eight hours have now passed. If I hear the question "Why did Daddy have to leave?" one more time I'm going to scream. That's a lie. I screamed last time I heard it. The Merry Men sent me in here to calm down. I guess it's for the best, I swear I was about throw something and that would have been a very bad example for the kids. The house seems very big without you to fill it up. The bed is even bigger. I don't like having that much space, it makes me feel like something is missing. SomeONE is missing. You're missing. I'm missing you. Please be safe._

_6th March 2009, 1pm (I think you can make the time conversions yourself from here on in)_

_Tank says I need to let him do stuff for me. He wants me to write a list of chores for him to come over and do on the weekend. I don't want to. If I give him stuff to do around the house it will feel like I'm replacing you. Plus, if give him everything I'll have nothing to occupy my time. I'm thinking I'll tackle the rain gutters this weekend. Laura asked if she could have a kitten today. I told her to wait until you get home and ask you, she didn't like that very much, and turns out I didn't either considering it lead to all the questions I love to hear. You know, the ones I can't answer because I don't have the appropriate information. Anyway, I should get back to work, Rodriguez has about a gazillion top priority search requests sitting on my desk that I haven't looked at and the kids are up on seven for a nap, so now seems as good a time as any to dig into them. _

_Thinking of you._

_7th March 2009, 2pm (Done your conversions? Know what time it is in your world?)_

_More questions that must go unanswered! I swear that's all my day is full of with you gone. Come back and answer some of them for me. At least if you come back I can have a definite for ONE of their questions. It doesn't help that the guys have been looking to me as your replacement. I don' think they realise what they're doing. I suppose they're just so used to us being together that they see me and assume you're there too and ask me questions about how to go about a certain surveillance shift, or whatever. I do my best to answer the question, but ultimately send them to Tank. What do I know about running a security company? Nothing, that's what. Ask me about changing diapers. Ask me about how to get grass stains out of the knees of overalls. Ask me about which paper towel is more absorbent. I can tell you tha- HOLY SHIT! Do you realise what I just said? That was scary. I sounded just like a housewife. I'm not a housewife, am I? Please tell me I'm not a housewife. Love you . Miss you. Hope you're well._

_9th March 2009, 10 am (1000 hours... oops I did the time conversion for you. Promise it won't happen again.)_

_It's Monday. Does that explain a few questions that just popped into your head? You know, like "Why did she miss a day?" or "Did she miss date this entry?" No, I'm not allowed to come into work on Sundays. You know that. Sure, you're allowed to. You're even allowed to be gone for ages and ages at a time, but I'm NEVER to set foot in Rangerman on a Sunday unless it's an emergency. Why is that? It's not like I'm working the entire time I'm there, ya know? And come on, you don't even have to pay me, so I don't see the problem... wow... Sorry, didn't mean to start off with an annoyed rant. Um... now I've forgotten what I was going to tell you. Oh! Right! Em has been miserable all day. Really clingy and he hasn't been eating as well as he usually does. He's probably teething. Ella seems to agree. She's been spoiling the kids rotten by the way. They get cookies more often than is probably necessary, and I'm powerless to put a stop to it because she keeps sending me plates of cookies as well._

_10th March 2009, 4pm (Be strong, don't convert.)_

_I haven't seen the kids since we arrived on the comm. floor. The moment the elevator doors opened they were swept away to God only know where. If it weren't for the fact that I trust the Merry Men so much I'd probably be really worried. I'm sure Ella's involved, they always get her involved when it comes to the kids, I think it's their way of safeguarding their actions, just in case the kids _do something_, you know? In the diaper region? They're absolutely terrified of that area. I must say though, it takes a load of my mind to assume that Ella is there with them. I love the guys, but they scare me just a little with some of their antics. The silence is eerie. I haven't heard the words mummy, ma, or up in seven hours._

_We watched "High School Musical" last night, at Laura's insistence of course. The twins were asleep about five minutes in, but Laura was still hopping around for about an hour after. I was afraid she was going to inform me she had to run. She didn't though. I think she realised that we'd have to take the twins with us and that I didn't want to risk waking them up. She's such a smart kid, and a good big sister, I caught her sharing her dolls with Bailey this morning while I was fixing breakfast._

_Love you more than my next breath. The kids miss you heaps (and won't let me forget the fact, honestly, I feel like chopped liver half the time)_

_11th March 2009, 3pm (HA! I didn't do it!)_

_I still don't know what the kids got up to with the guys yesterday. Laura has apparently been sworn to secrecy over the matter, the strange thing is, she hasn't said anything about it. Usually she spills at the first chance. Onto todays events though, Cal and Hector got into a fist fight in the middle of the comm.. room. One minute everything was fine, work weht on as usual, the next Call and Hector are rolling around on the floor throwing punches. I've never seen anything like it. Took three guys to pull them apart. I'm so glad the kids were upstairs with Ella making brownies, I don't think I could handle it if they started their own physical disputes. Cal has now been put in isolation until he calms down, after Tank determined that he was the one who started it._

_Sure neither of them would have dared act like that if you were here. Come home so I can sleep better at night._

_12th March 2009, 11am _

_Em is still feeling miserable. He didn't sleep well at all last night, which meant I didn't get ANY sleep. I've fallen asleep three times already since I got to work, once while I was standing at the copier. Les sent me in here to take a nap. I'm not allowed out for at least an hour. Now that I'm in here though, I'm not tired at alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllldojgnadsg_

_12th March 2009, 1pm_

_I fell asleep on the key board. I didn't drool though. Which is good. I'm gonna go check on the kids now (and maybe my inbox). You're constantly in our thoughts._

_13th March 2009, 12pm (lunch time)_

_Lester is cooking us dinner tonight. Insisting on it really. We're meeting up on seven after work. Laura is so excited, I can't imagine why, it's not like she doesn't get good food. Okay, I admit it, I burnt dinner last night, but really, it was my first attempt at lasagne from scratch. It was okay in the middle. And I made it up to her by cooking some chips as well. Oh well. When are you coming home? I really miss you. I've taken to sleeping on your side of the bed in the attempt to get closer to you in spirit. Em cried for an hour this morning directly following Laura and Bailey's interrogation of the men on your whereabouts. I think he misses you. Can't blame the kid, I miss you so much it hurts._

_14th March 2009, 11am _

_I'm only in for a half day because the kids wanted to see the guys, we're leaving for the park just as soon as I'm finished this entry, Laura is already standing beside your desk jumping up and down in excitement. Bailey and Em are with Tank at the monitors, last I checked they'd put Dora the Explorer on one of the screens for them, they're such cuties. The men as well as the kids. Be back Monday. Mwa Kisses._

_16th March 2009, 5pm_

_Wow, what a packed day. This is seriously, the first moment I've had free. I took the kids to the doctor this morning for a check up (after the Monday morning meeting) and he confirmed that Em is teething. Bailey is too, but not quite as close to cutting a tooth as Em is. Any day now, is what he said. Laura's fine. _Shocker._ Anyway, I have to go, because if I don't I'll probably be roped into some more problem solving. That's what I did with the rest of my day, by the way, I was in the conference room solving problems for the men. Did you not give them brains? They overlooked the simplest of solutions! I feel bad because I didn't get any searches done today, but I'll do them tomorrow. Rodriguez marks everything as urgent, so it's his own fault if I ignore them. Boy who cried wolf and all that jazz._

_17th March 2009, 11.30am_

_ANOTHER FIST FIGHT ON THE COMM. FLOOR! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE GUYS?? I'd been at my desk no five minutes when there was massive amounts of shouting from the bank of elevators. I left the twins with Hal, who was in my cubicle with me, and went to investigate. Two men were left on the monitors and everyone else (Tank being the exception, he was in a client meeting with Laura in tow) was circled around Benny and Bones. They were going at each other like dogs in heat. Eventually I made myself heard, got two of the gawkers to pull them apart and take them down to the gym and sent everyone else back to their desks. I got Ram to cuff them each to a chair and set them at opposite ends of the mats then supervise as they yelled all their issues out for hour. At the end of that they still had issues so I let them have at it. I swear, everyone's gone insane in your absence, me included. I actually contemplated a salad last night, Laura snapped me out of it by pulling the chicken nuggets out of the freezer, but it was a close call._

_Come home soon and put an end to all these shenanigans._

There was a knock at his office door breaking his concentration. It was too soft to be one of the men, that left three options: Steph, the kids, or Ella. As much as he wanted it to be Steph, he was afraid of what he could fuck up if it was. He hadn't thought about what he'd done wrong or what he could do to fix it. He was totally unprepared for Steph to come back now. He wasn't sure he was ready for the kids either, he'd scared them and was out of practice with dealing with them so wasn't confident he could comfort them. Ella he could probably deal with. She'd be firm by sympathetic to his situation, give him advice that might actually work rather than the crock pot ideas Tank threw out. With a long sigh, Ranger got up and answered the door, rather than just call 'Enter' like he usually did. He needed something to do anyway.

_**Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed past chapters, keep up the good work, I promise I'll get another chapter out either Wednesday or Friday next week, but only if you review. Oh and tell me who you want to be behind door number one.**_


	7. Upside Down

_HOLY-GOSH-PANTS!! Now, if I'm not very much mistaken I mentioned last chapter that I would update either Wednesday or Friday this week and LO AND BEHOLD! it's Wednesday and I'm updating. Aren't you so proud? Anyway, this chapter comes to you from the letters **S**, for Mr Squiggle and **B** for Blackboard, whom inspired some of the ideas in this chapter. Id you've never seen Mr. Squiggle, well, shame on you. Stop reading here and start reading down there now! Enjoy!_

**Chapter 7**

I opened the door, expecting to find Ella on the other side, perhaps with a pitcher of iced green tea. Instead I was met with the small form of my only son. Tears were still tracked down his cheeks from the crying he'd been doing; the crying I had caused. His wet little eye gazed up at me petulantly before he brushed past my leg and made his way to the wall that now held his painting along with both his sisters'. I wanted as he stared up it, rubbing his fist against his eyes. He reached out a hand toward it and looked back over at me. Confused, I said the only thing that came to mind.

"You did that." His mouth opened to say something, but closed it immediately instead. "It's very nice. You did a good job." _Oh Lord, listen to my dialogue its like something straight out of Awkward Around Kids magazine._ This was my very own flesh and blood, I'd only been gone for twelve weeks out of his potentially long life, what was my problem?

I closed the distance between us and picked him up, setting him on my hip so I still had one hand free in case of, well, anything really; it was an instinctual thing. Em reached for his painting again, so I moved closer to it. When it was in reach I grabbed onto one edge and lifted it so it turned almost ninety degrees to the right. I stopped him and took a step back to prevent a repeat of the action, because frankly, I was afraid of what Steph would do if she found out, I'd enable Emmanuel to break the picture she love so much.

"No," I told him. "Picture stays on the wall."

His next actions brought out a mixture of responses in me, all of which I tried hard to squash, with little to no success. First, he crossed his arms over his chest with a sour look on his face and I almost laughed at how much he looked like Steph when he did so. He then unfolded his arms, pointed to the picture and said, quite clearly, "Ma." My heart soared._ His first word!_ Wait, second word, Steph mentioned his first the day before. _ The first word I'd heard him utter._ The main thing was, I managed to hear it over the ringing in my ears. There was hope for me yet.

"Mama's not here, Em. She went for a walk."

For a moment he just stared at me, no doubt trying to work out if I was telling the truth. Then he waved his arm about and pointed at the painting again. "Ma!" he said insistently.

Curious about what his reaction would be, I took the frame off the wall, carried it to my desk and set down next to the computer keyboard. I then sat down, positioning Em in reach of the frame on my lap and watched what he did, ready to catch the picture should he push it off the edge. He didn't. In fact, all he did was rotate the frame a hundred and eighty degrees. I met his eyes when he turned to face me. He was determined to get something across to me, I could tell.

"What is it?" I asked.

As if in answer, he returned his attention to the picture, stroked one hand across the glass and repeated, "Ma."

It was then that I _really_ looked at the painting, and let me tell you, as much as it had stunned me the first time I saw it, this new angle caused my heart to skip a beat, my breath to catch, and, I'm almost ashamed to admit this, a sting of tears threatened behind my eyes. The painting had been hung upside down. Looking at it now, I found it hard to believe that no one else had noticed. The dots and squiggles that had seemed artful yet random, hanging on the wall now formed the elegant deatials of my wife's face. I was amazed. At just sixteen and a half months Emmanuel had managed to paint his mother. It was, however, abstract enough that those without an eye for detail would miss the face altogether. How Tank, an art school graduate, had overlooked it was beyond me.

I was still admiring the new view when I sensed someone else in the room with us. Glancing up, I sw Lester standing there, chin wagging. He was talking to me. _Better tune in._

"... got away from me. I'll take him back to the monitors now if you want. Laura and Bailey are there watching a DVD." I shook my head to Em was fine with me, but I'm pretty sure I hadn't managed to mask my awestruck expression because the next words out of his mouth were, "Is everything alright?"

I nodded. "Fine. Great. Everything's great."

Lester grinned. "So you spoke to Steph and sorted everything out?"

The slight smile that had been ghosting around my lips at that point dissolved into thin air as I remembered that all was not well between Steph and I. I had a lot of questionable comments to make up for even if they had been said with pure intentions. First, though, I'd have to find her.

"Where would Steph have going?" I asked Lester, because if anyone would have a clue, other than me (and I certainly didn't have one at the moment) it would be Lester. Steph had trusted him with her secret when she left and he'd been there for her through the thick and the thin of three and a half years. He had to have a clue.

Before he could answer my question, his phone rang on his belt.

Steph's POV

Having no voice at all was a real pain. It made communication that much harder. After half an hour I decided to give up on trying to accurately explain my feelings and settled for companionable silence. Eventually this was broken by Joe asking if there was anyone I wanted him to call. I thought for a long moment, then had an idea and started scribbling on the memo pad.

_Yes. Could you call Rangeman. The call centre, not the number I gave you to contact me. Manny should answer the phone, when he does, ask about security for neighbourhood safe houses. He should transfer you to Jose. If you don't get Jose you'll probably end up with Crank. We don't want that, so ask him about the visual accuracy of the cameras involved n the standard security package. That'll get you either to Jose or Zero in the tech department. Either one is fine. When you've got one of them, I need you to relay this message word for word: "The Pumpkin is on the Runway. Tell the seeds not to panic, the wheels are gonna miss them but will be back at the end of the flight for another run."_

I handed him the page and he read it twice, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. "Anything else?" he asked, still completely serious, without a hint of any amusement, sarcasm or even confusion. Guess he was used to random relay messages. I nodded and scribbled on the next page "_Call Lester and let him know where I am and that I'm alright."_

When I handed him this one I had a huge grin on my face, feeling much better than I had when I'd first arrived for having made the joke. Surely he would see that the first set of instructions was all in jest? He wasn't looking at me though. He simply nodded and started dialling on his cell phone. I listened to his side of the conversation for only a few seconds before I came to the conclusion that he was following the first part! I laughed myself into wheezes when he said the bit about the pumpkin. He only got half way through it before stopping in the middle of a word and staring at the phone.

"He hung up on me!" he cried, then seemed to notice me and laughed. "Good to know your sense of humour didn't leave with your voice," he said, dialling again. "It's Joe Morelli... Steph wanted me to call and let you know she's fine... because she asked me to do it... she can't at the moment... she has no voice... okay, but I don't see what good it's gonna do..."

He held the phone out to me and I took it, rolling my eyes at the same time.

"Steph, if you can hear me, tap the receiver three times." I did as I was told. "Right, I don't know what my stupid-ass brother said to you this time, but the kids need you. Ric can't deal with them without spoiling them rotten. Do you want that to happen? Twice for yes, three times for no." I tapped three times. "Didn't think so. So what are you going to do about it?" He paused as if waiting for my reply. "I gotta tell you Steph," he finally continued, "I'm actually standing not eight feet from your husband and the weird thing is he hasn't tried to snatch the phone off me. In fact, he hasn't even gotten out of his chair... he must really be ashamed of what he's done..." There was another short pause. "I don't believe that for a second, bro. He says he's not snatching because that's a bad example for Emmanuel and he's not gotten up because Em is finally settled on his lap. I'm afraid your husband is avoiding you. Serves him right though, he needs to think about what he's done. What exactly has he done, by the way?" He paused again. "Give me back to Morelli and write it down so he can relay it."

I rolled my eyes and handed the phone to Joe, picked up the pen and wrote "_Tell him what I told you about what happened."_ And so he did, relayed questions and answers between us and then handed the phone back to me.

"Tap if you can hear me," Lester said immediately. I once again tapped the stupid phone, but Les didn't say anything for about a minute. "This is definitely going to sound weird," he said when he returned to me. "God know it sounds weird to me, but I'm gonna put you on speaker phone and the love of your life wants you to put yours on too."

_

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_

I know, I know, I'm always leaving you with cliffies, but if I don't I just don't find the inclination to write more. So drop me a line. Let me know what you think and all that jazz. Ta darls!


	8. Asserting Power

_Here we are at chapter 8, and my very best friend in the entire world would be completely disapointed with the contents of it but she will get over it, and learn to love me again. I can't really think of anything else to say, so I'll just leave you all to read on. Enjoy._

**Chapter 8**

I slept through most of the afternoon on Joe's couch. I'm amazed that I was still there when I woke up, though. I'd expected Ranger to swoop in and snatch me up the moment he knew where I was. Then again, he could have made it so that I wouldn't have been able to leave the building to begin with if he really hadn't wanted me to leave. That just seemed to reaffirm everything he had implied that morning. He wasn't attracted to me anymore. He didn't want to be with me. That's fine. I can live with that. I think. I just wish he'd say it directly to my face instead of trying to hide it. It'd be much easier if he just told me the way it was so we could move on. I was a big girl, I could handle it. And I was young enough that I could make a fresh start somewhere else with relative ease if I needed to. I sure as hell didn't want to, I'd been there before and it was hard, but if I had to, I would.

The phone call around lunchtime had essentially achieved nothing more than frustrating Morelli, and for some reason, Lester. I'd puzzled over that for a while, but come up empty. Joe's reaction was understandable; it wasn't easy relaying messages, especially when they were written in my chicken scrawl. Lester's just confused me though. Maybe he was just annoyed that his brother could be so stupid as to let this happen. Again. I know I was. The conversation seemed to take about three times as long as it should have. There was the time spent waiting for me to scratch out my replies on the paper, but there were also long pauses before most replies on the other end as well.

Not long after we hung up, Joe was called into work. He let me stay on the condition that I keep him more well informed about the kids' progress. This request came in light of him hearing Emmanuel over the phone and getting hurt that I hadn't told him about Em's first word or the paintings the kids had done that I later told him about. So I waited until I heard the car leave the driveway, turned on the television, sprawled on the couch (which was surprisingly clean, given Morelli's history of housekeeping) and fell asleep. When I woke up, I decided that what I needed was a sympathetic ear. One that I had come to name Mary-Lou.

I started dialling, but stopped halfway, remembering my voice. After a few tentative, failing attempts to work a sound out of my tight throat I decided to send a text message instead.

_Mare, need 2 talk 2 u. Got no voice. What u doin 2nite?_

As I waited for a reply I searched through Joe's pantry and found the honey. My mother would always shovel honey into my mouth when I had a sore throat. I generally spat it out though, I couldn't stand the taste of honey back then. There was no harm in trying the remedy now. I took a spoonful into my mouth and waited for the gag reflex to kick in. It didn't, so I swallowed. Nothing felt any different, and I still couldn't get more than a wordless squeak out, so I went back to the living room and stared at my phone until the message came.

_Stuck home 2nite. Welcum 4 dinner. U and kids or just u?_

My reply was quick and simple._ Just me. See you soon._

Dinner was over, with only minor bruises and small stains. The boys were learning to control themselves. Mare sent them all to their rooms to do homework, or study, or whatever the hell they wanted provided they were in their rooms and quiet, and sat me on the couch. Her look was stern. _Mother's eyes_. And she wouldn't let me avert my gaze. _I had to learn me that trick to use on the Merry Men._

"Spill," she demanded. "What's up? What's he done?"

I pointed to my throat to remind her of my communication problem and she handed me a pen and paper. I had a feeling that by the end of this I'd be able to write really fast and it might even be legible. _'Ranger came home yesterday.'_ I started and showed to her. She nodded. _'But he doesn't want to be with me anymore. He's not attracted to me. He doesn't love me. I don't know what to do. I don't have anywhere to go.'_

She gave me that look that said _Bullshit_, but took my hand in hers sympathetically. "First: That's a lie. That man has only ever had eyes for you. _Every_ man has only ever had eyes for you."

_'What about the dick?'_ I countered.

"The dick?!" she exclaimed. "He's not a man! When did you start classifying him as a man?!" Rather than reply, I allowed the heat to rise in my cheeks and gave a small, appreciative smile. "Exactly. Secondly: You're going back to your house, because it _your house_. The deed is in your name, remember? He bought it _for you._ You have more right to be there than he does." I nodded and was thinking of what to say next when she spoke again. "You can't go looking like that though. What's with the puffy eyes and messed up hair? Go wash your face and then I'll braid your hair, it'll be just like back in junior high."

Ranger's POV

I was going insane. It was clear to me now. I'd let the love of my life slip through my fingers for at least the second time in this life time and now I was sitting on the living room floor wearing a tiara and feather boa being subjected to a tea party with Bailey and Laura. Em was sitting on the couch with his patched up teddy, watching. I was just thankful that the girls weren't old enough to have make up, or I'd be looking like an even bigger fag right now than I already did.

"More tea, Daddy?" Laura asked, motioning to the tea pot full of water in the middle of the coffee table.

"Tea?" Bailey repeated.

"Sure," I grumbled. "Why not?" I'm sure they were supposed to be in bed by now, but none of them seemed to be tired and they refused to go to bed anyway, so I was stuck in this awful getup, entertaining them.

"You have to say 'yes please' Daddy. Didn't they teach you anything at Daddy school?" Laura had her hands on her hips, giving me that stern Steph-like glare. "Would you like some more tea, Daddy?"

"Yes please," I gritted out through clenched teeth. And to think, I laughed when they did this to Lester and Hal. They seemed to have a ball at this. Why was I being such a cranky pants? I knew why. I'd stuffed things up with Steph and now I was taking my frustration out on everything but myself. I was so selfish. It took all my self control not to go pick her up from the cop's the moment I found out she was there. She obviously needed the space to work through her feelings and problems. I just wish she would trust me enough just this once to stick around and work through her problems _with me_. We'd been married almost two years now and it seemed whenever she had a problem she would cut the strands of communication between us to varying degrees.

Suddenly, Em was sliding off the couch and toddling as fast as his little legs would take him toward the hall, teddy still tucked under his arm. I thought I heard him say something on his way out, but the ringing in my ears made it difficult to be sure. "Em, where are you going?" I called, not that I would have been able to hear his reply if he made one. Before I could get up from the floor to follow him Bailey and Laura were out of the room. "Girls?"

When I made it to the doorway that lead to the hall, I stopped dead. Steph was dropping her keys in the dish and closing the door behind her with Em on her hip. She didn't look at me, but crouched down to hug the girls. Laura was babbling on about everything that had happened since her mother had left, Bailey backing her up at every possible moment. Em seemed content to just lay his head on Steph's shoulder, thumb in mouth.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Steph asked when Laura was through. Apparently she had regained her voice.

"We was having a tea party with Daddy," Laura explained, then asked, "What's wrong with your voice?" Okay, so she obviously hadn't regained it completely. "You sound funny."

"I hurt my throat. I'll be fine. Go get into your pyjamas and I'll read you a story."

"Toy?" Bailey asked hopefully.

Steph nodded and kissed her on the top of the head. "If you get in your PJs you can listen too. You too," she added, tickling Emmanuel's ribs. She set him down and the kids raced toward the stairs, Laura climbing them with no problem and the twins managing at a much slower pace. Steph turned to me, acknowledging my presence for the first time. "I'm not here for you. I'm here for the kids. They need me. And this is my house, so you'll be sleeping on the couch until you decide to tell me what your problem is. If you need anything from the bedroom for tonight or tomorrow morning, I suggest you take it while I'm tucking the kids in."

She'd grown a back bone in the last few hours, it seemed. She hadn't asserted herself like this in years. Certainly not since she'd returned with Laura. "You need to rest your voice. I'll read to the kids," I suggested, knowing before I even said it that she would reject the idea. She shook her head. "Just don't strain yourself then." As she turned and made for the stairs I felt compelled to call after her, "I really am sorry, Babe." All she did was pause at the first stair and nod without turning around.

#

For all the comfort the couch provided in late night movie watching, sitting with my arms wrapped around my wife, it was almost as bad a lumpy plank of wood for sleeping on all night. When I awoke in the morning an hour after the time I would have liked to be up, there was a crick in my neck and my lower back ached worse than an old man. I suppose it didn't help that the couch was not long enough for my body. I smelled bacon cooking in the kitchen and assumed Steph, at least, was up and moving about. Without the aid of ears I couldn't tell if the kids were up. I took my chances and hobbled into the kitchen. Three plates of bacon and eggs were on the table waiting. Laura bounced into the room, pigtails flying, still fastening the clips on her short overalls.

"Morning Daddy," she said, kissing my stomach as she passed. "Morning mommy!" She sat down at one of the plates, but didn't touch anything. "Daddy sit."

I looked over at Steph, who was getting juice from the fridge, a question in my eyes. She nodded silently and I sat down next to Laura. "Where are the twins?" I asked, feeling like a stranger in my own house. _Steph's house,_ I corrected myself, because she had been right last night. I'd bought it in her name. It was our home, but her house.

"Still sleeping," Steph said, placing the juice and a plate of toast on the table. "I'll get them up after we've had breakfast."

"I can do it," I offered, again, having the surreal feeling that I was an outsider.

She looked me up and down. "You're not dressed. Don't you want to get ready yourself?"

"I can do both."

She sighed. "I'll do it myself. You look like you could use a shower." That moment seemed almost normal. "The couch isn't good for sleeping on, is it?" And there it goes, out the window.

"Why did you sleep on the couch, Daddy?" Laura asked.

_Shit._ What was I supposed to tell her? _Mummy and Daddy are fighting and Mummy didn't want me in the same room as her?_ That would never work. Luckily Steph stepped in before I could fuck things up more than I already had. "He fell asleep there and Mummy didn't want to wake him."

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_As always, I encourage you to send reviews. I love and cherish them._


	9. Just a bit of Stress

_Well, it took me a blooming-well long time to update, as you may have noticed, but I updated, isn't that the main thing? Anyway, as always, this chapter was mostly on the train going to and from uni and the rest of it was written during the time when I should really have been working on assignments, but such is life. I take my greativity when it comes these days. Hope you enjoy._Chapter 9

Laura was off like a rocket the moment I had released the child safety lock. One second she was in her booster seat, the next she was half way across the parking garage, heading toward hawk and Zero who were stacking boxes by the elevator. I watched her carefully, despite knowing the Merry Men religiously kept to half the speed of snail while in the parking garage unless there was an emergency, which would be clearly indicated by the flashing lights and constant beeping.

"What's with the boxes?" Laura asked as she jumped into view of the guys. Sometimes, her abundance of energy just astounds me. Now, for example, I wouldn't have been able to match her energy if you gave me two double strength caffeine pills and a can of V to swallow them down with. She'd always been this energetic. People kept throwing around terms like hyperactive, but to me, she was just energetic. Hyperactivity had bad connotations as far as I was concerned, thanks very much to my mother and the local paediatrician when I was seven.

Hawk grinned down at her and countered, "What's with the face?"

Laura glared at him and reluctantly rephrased her question. Hawk was trying to teach her proper speaking patterns. I didn't really think it mattered, this was Jersey, it was just the way speech happened around here. "What's in the boxes?"

"Stuff Ella ordered," Zero informed her as I opened the back door and let Bailey out of her car seat. "We're taking the up to her."

Bailey's eyes lit up when she heard Zero's voice and she did a fairly accurate impression of her older sister as she dashed across the garage. For some reason unbeknownst to me or anyone else I asked, Zero was her favourite Merry Man. The logic was completely beyond me, but I didn't mind, so long as she was happy and he didn't mind. I chuckled as she skittered around the last car, yelled a warning over to them as she launched herself at Zero, and then turned back to Emmanuel, waiting patiently for me to release him from the confines of his car seat. When I tried to set him on the ground so he could follow his sisters, he made a distressed, almost pained sound and clutched the fabric of my shirt like it was his last hope of survival. I guess my little disappearing act yesterday affected him more than I thought.

"Okay," I murmured, stroking his back. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here." I picked up my bags and made my way over to Hawk, Zero and the girls.

Laura was performing her innocence act for Hawk. "Can I pretty please see what's inside?" she asked him, giving him her patented puppy dog look.

Hawk shook his head. "I told you already, Ella said to bring them straight to her. No one, not even me, is allowed to see what's inside before Ella does."

Laura pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, instantly achieving sad, dejected, and angry all at once. The pouting she got from me, and it was a half decent attempt if I do say so myself. The arm crossing and angry intimidating look, on the other hand, was all her father. She turned to me as I approached and her pout deepened, doubling the sadness factor. "Hawky won't let me see what's in the boxes," she complained, as if I had any authority on the matter.

"Ella said no one could see them before she inspected them," Hawk informed me hurriedly, a worried look on his face. "She said there would be consequences if any of the boxes were opened before they made it to her. It was really hard to not open them when we went to pick them up, because we usually have to check boxes and stuff for bombs and other suspicious stuff."

"Hawk," I said sharply, to get his attention. "Calm down. I'm sure the boxes are fine. Nothing in them but whatever Ella ordered. I'll stay with her while she opens them and if anything looks suspicious, you'll be my first point of call." I turned to Laura. "And you can come with me if you want to see what's in there so bad. I'm sure Ella won't mind."

She did her happy dance in response and gloated to Hawk that she'd get to see them before he did. While they were all distracted I pushed the call button for the elevator, watching Bailey somehow balance on Zero's head, giggling her head off, while I waited.

When we arrived at Ella's apartment she was waiting for us at the door, well, waiting for the boxes, I don't think it really mattered which human beings brought them to her. A distressed expression was hinting in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked her as the guys carried the boxes past us into her work room. Laura was doing her bit, pushing one box along the corridor at an agonisingly slow rate, given its weight.

"I didn't have approval from Ricardo when I ordered them," she gushed, "He wasn't here and I didn't expect him to be back before they were ready. At least, I'd planned to broach the subject with him before they turned up, but he's been in such a foul mood since he arrived home that i haven't wanted to bother him. Is he alright dear?"

I blinked at the abrupt turn about. She went from distressed worry, to concerned friend in the space of a second. "I really don't know Ella," I admitted. "He won't talk to me about it."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She petted my arm in an almost absent minded fashion. "What am I going to do about this?" she fretted, instantly back to distressed worry.

Nothing like a friend with a dilemma to take your mind off your own problems, I say, so instead of dwelling on the fact that Ranger was still as taciturn about his problems as the day he came home, I decided to help Ella solve her own problem... whatever that may be. "What's in the boxes?" I asked her.

She looked at me, and I could tell that she was fighting tears. "New uniforms," she said, biting her lip.

Zero, who had been passing with yet another box in his arms (and Bailey sitting merrily on top of the box) gave a quiet "Yes!" Hawk's reaction, however, was less than stellar. He gave a groan and slumped against the recently constructed tower of boxes. "Really? New uniforms?" He seemed almost disgusted by the idea.

I chuckled at him and changed Em to my other hip. "I'm sure they'll be great," I assured him.

He rolled his eyes. "What's wrong with the uniforms we have?"

"They're fine," I said. "If you like he-men barging into your home and demanding to see the security panel."

"I don't mind it," he retorted.

"I'll give you a little tip then," I told him, crossing the distance between us and laying a hand on his massive arm. "Women, children and family men, don't respond well to it."

"There's nothing wrong with our uniforms!"

"A little change will do you good, Hawk."

"If the boss didn't approve it, I'm not wearing it."

"You'll wear it," I seethed. "And you'll like it, even if I have to kill you to achieve that." Hawk scoffed at that, but looked suitably unnerved, unsure of exactly how far I was willing to take it. If I had taught him nothing over the years I had known him, it was never to underestimate a woman, especially a stressed out, woman who is lacking in sleep. "Let's see these uniforms," I suggested to Ella, who was still wringing her hands.

000ooo000

I awoke abruptly to a flash of blinding light and the ominous sound of the zoom lens on my husband's camera. I jerked into a more upright position and almost fell off my chair, that's when I realised that I had Em still in my arms. He was sitting on my lap, giggling at me (of course), but still looking sleepy. My best guess would be that he had just woken up as well. I glanced quickly down at my desk to make sure I hadn't left a drool puddle (I hadn't), and spun my chair to face Ranger more head on.

"You better hadn't make a nasty habit out of this," I warned, scowling at him. "I don't appreciate the suddenness of the wake up."

He sent me all 200 watts of his famous grin. The grin I'd fallen in love with. The grin I hadn't seen in almost four months. "I just can't help it," he informed me, snapping another photo, while I continued to glare.

There was a bit of an awkward silence during which his grin slowly faded and I lightened up a little.

"Can I come in?" he asked, gesturing to the visitors' chair. "I need to tell you something." I nodded, turned to the computer and fired up the search programs. "Steph, please don't turn you back on me, it makes this all the more hard." When I didn't turn around he took the initiative and turned me around himself. "I need to tell you something," he repeated, staring me straight in the eye.

I waited for him to continue, but he didn't. I spun the chair back to the computer and started typing in the information for the required fields of a search. I'd gotten as far as the third letter of the crim's name when I was abruptly spun back around. I glanced down at Em still clinging to me as he sat on my lap; he had a goofy smile on his face like he was enjoying it, which made me smile as well, because he'd been miserable all morning. I started spinning a quarter to each side and he giggled. Finally glancing back at Ric I found a content smile as he gazed at his only son. "Well?" I asked. He didn't respond, just kept staring at Emmanuel. I waved my hand in front of his face to get his attention and sat back when his head snapped up.

"What?" he asked gazing rather perplexedly at me.

"You wanted to tell me something. I'm waiting."

He nodded and took a deep breath. He opened his mouth to say something but instead let out a sigh and shook his head dejectedly. A few moments passed, during which I stopped spinning Em and stared at him. I don't think I'd ever seen him lost for words, or hesitating to say something. If he had something to say to you, he usually just said it, but these past few days had lead me to expect these weird vulnerabilities. It seemed appropriate in a freakishly odd type of way. It was like I knew what he was going to tell me without him even opening his mouth. In saying that though, I hadn't he foggiest idea of what was going to tumble from those lips when he looked up at me, gazing into my eyes for all he was worth and said, "Babe, I can't hear."

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_Don't for get to leave a review. I promise I'll at least think about replying to them. And who knows, maybe I'll recieve it when I should be studying, you might just get lucky._


	10. Reconciliation Begins

_I have absolutely nothing to say here, but it feels wrong to post without saying something first, so here goes. I sometimes wish my favourite twenty-two month old was a quite as Emmanuel Manoso. I've spent that past week constantly in her company, and all I hear is "Duck, cat, dog, black, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, piggy piggy piggy, truck, oo-oo-oo, duck duck duck duck, cat cat cat cat cat cat" etc. It's frustrating, but she's sooooooo cute. Happy reading._

**_Chapter 10_**

Ranger's POV

She just stared at me as if she hadn't heard me. Ironic really. I waited for her to start breathing again, it took a few moments longer than I was comfortable with, and she almost dropped E in the meantime, but she regained pulmonary activity. She continued to stare until Em made a sound and fidgeted. Glancing down, she smiled at him and set him on the floor. He toddled to the toy box in the corner and took out some blocks. Steph continued to watch him, a strange look on her face. When she finally pulled her gaze up to mine, it was hard to tell exactly her expression, but it must have been somewhere between confused and sad.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

Her brow furrowed. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"I'm fine, trust me," I assured her.

Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head. On the floor, Em stopped playing with his blocks and looked up worriedly at his mother. "Ma?" he asked, reaching a hand out to touch her leg.

"I'm fine, baby boy," she told him, still crying. He toddled over and started trying to climb up onto her lap. She didn't hesitate to pick him up, holding him close as her tears continued to fall.

"Steph, why are you crying?"

She looked up and sniffed, drying her eyes on the back of her hand. "I just don't get why you didn't tell me to begin with." The tears started falling again even before she got her words out. It was absolute torture watching her cry, it always had been, but I wasn't sure if I _should_ hug her. Things had been so topsy turvy since I'd been home that I wasn't sure if I was sure of anything anymore. "What's wrong with you?" she sobbed.

"I have a constant ringing in my ears that makes it hard to-."

"Not that," she interrupted, an exasperated look on her face. "You're acting like... like you don't love me anymore."

"Christ, Babe, not this again," I groaned before I could stop myself.

"Not this again? I think it's just as justified, don't you? You haven't even _tried _to-."

"Babe," I cut across her before she could work herself up even more. "I love you. I've always loved you. I will never stop loving you, no matter what." I reached across the space between us and dragged her chair over to mine. She was still crying, but she had an oddly happy look on her face as I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her into my lap. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you straight off the bat. I'm sorry I made you feel unloved. I'm sorry I had to leave you for months. I'm sorry-."

She stopped me in the most effective and _affective_ way possible. She sealed her lips over mine. It worked. I stopped talking. I also stopped thinking and breathing, at least for a moment. Tightening my grip on her, I pulled my wife close to my chest and revelled in the feeling I had longed for for four long months. I let my hand flit up her back and slip into her unruly curls. I was in heaven. Finally, it didn't matter that one of my senses was compromised, it didn't matter that I wasn't the whole kit and caboodle. I was here, with my arms around my Babe, her lips on mine, with my family within reach.

"I get it," she said softly, pulling back to look into my eye. "You're sorry. I'm sorry too. Just promise me that in the future you'll share _everything_. That means illnesses." She gave me a pointed look. "Injuries." Another meaningful glare. "And hospital visits. Not just the happy, la-dee-da stuff, okay mister? If something happens in your work life that you're allowed to share with me, I want to hear about it, no matter how boring it is. It's only fair, I bore you with the intricate details of shopping trips and-." A thoughtful expression came over her face for a moment. "I need to borrow your computer," she told me, abruptly extricating herself from my grasp.

She was out the door before I thought to stop her, so I grabbed Em and charged after her. Em seemed to like the bouncing, if his giggles were anything to go by, I'd have to do this more often when my hearing cleared fully so that I could properly appreciate the sound. When I got to the door of my office Steph was sitting at my desk, making circular motions in the air between her and the computer screen.

"Come on, come on," she whispered. I figured she was trying to get it to hurry up and load up, since I hadn't turned it on yet today.

"What are you doing, Babe?" I asked, slightly amused at the image before me.

Her eyes snapped to me and for a moment I thought she was going crazy. "Nothing," she said quickly. "I just need to clean up some things I left on your-."

"Please don't delete your _Urgent_ document, Babe, I haven't finished reading it."

A groan escaped her lips as she lowered her head to the table. "It's too late!"

I chuckled as I set Em back on the floor. "I love reading your accounts. They beat the hell out of business reports, and it gives me an insight into the kids' development over the time I was gone. Please don't delete it." I watched, struggling to keep a straight face, as she pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "If you leave the document there I'll take you out for a special lunch, just you and me."

"What about the kids?"

I could have throttled her. I really could have. She'd been solely responsible for our three little cherubs for weeks and weeks on end and the moment I offer her respite, she worries about them some more. I shook my head and grabbed her hand, pulling her from the chair and leading her over to the middle of the room. "I'm sure Ella is more than capable of taking care of the kids, she's done it enough times before. Can you let me take you out for an intimate lunch? Do you think you can manage to forget about the kids for a couple of hours to reconnect with your husband?"

"I don't think I can function without the kids," she deadpanned. "Just let me call Ella and then we can go. Is what I'm wearing okay?"

"Perfect." Just then Em tugged on my trouser leg. When I looked down he pointed towards the wall where his painting was hanging, still upside down since I hadn't gotten a chance to fix it. He toddled over to the couch and climbed up, still pointing to it. I glanced over at Steph, looking just a little bit suspicious, facing the corner and talking low so that I could neither hear her, nor read her lips. "We'll show Mama your painting again when she's off the phone," I assured him, not taking my eyes off my wife, hoping I could work out what she was up to.

_As always, I hope you can find the time to leave a review. Any and all comments are welcome._


	11. Putting Changes In Place

_No. Your eyes are not decieving you. Yes. This is a story update in the form of a new chapter. No. I did not accidentally add it to the wrong story. This is meant to be here! *shocked expression* Are you as surprised as I am? _

**Chapter 11**

I was nervous as we pulled into parking garage after lunch. We'd spent the past hour talking and catching up. I had been a little awkward at first, not sure how to interact with my own husband. But once he assured me that so long as I didn't turn away from him as I spoke he could understand me fine, things settled into the usual ease. Don't get me wrong, I was still annoyed with him that he hadn't let me know the moment he stepped off the plane, but I was able to push it aside and just enjoy his company, glad to have him back.

We also discussed ways we could support, encourage and develop Em's art. I'd been mesmerised by his painting when it was first revealed to me, but now that it had been cast into a new light I was completely blown away. It looked just like me. I was utterly amazed that my baby boy could do something so accurately when half the time he fell over when he walked. With the creativity he was showing at just eighteen months, I couldn't wait to see what could do six years, or even eighteen years. The possibilities, as far as I was concerned, were endless.

As we were walking, hand in hand, toward the elevator to get back to work, I pulled him to a stop and waited for him to turn to face me. _Now or never_, I told myself. Taking a deep breath I thought quickly of the right words to say, hoping that by giving him this forewarning he would not get angry at me, or Ella, or the guys for what we'd done. I must have taken too long, though, because he raised his hand to caress my cheek and murmured, "Babe?"

The concern in his voice made me smile. Not because I was happy that he was concerned, but because I wanted to assure him everything was alright. We locked eyes and I feel him staring deep into my soul, trying to work out what I was up to.

I sighed.

"Don't be angry," I requested, squeezing the hand that I still held in mine.

Now he returned my smile, though I detected a hint of sadness around his eyes. "With everything that's gone on, I don't think I have the right to be angry at you ever again," he assured me. I know he meant it, but it wasn't fair on him to have that kind of burden on his heart.

Turning my head, I gently kissed the palm of the hand he'd rested on my cheek. "That's not true. It was one misguided decision, compounded by my own insecurities. We've talked it over. We're past it. Now promise me you won't get angry at anyone no matter what happens in the next few minutes."

"What have they done?" Ranger's eyes got that hard glint in them that always had the men scrambling out of the way. He tried to pull away from me and make his way to the stairwell, but I tugged on his hand in a vague attempt to get him to stay. He did so, easily, but the concern was back in his eyes as he stared down at me with his questioning gaze. "What's happened, Babe?"

"Ellaorderednewuniformswhiley ouwereawayandtheyjustarrived thismorning,soIgothertohandthemoutandmak ethemenwearthemwhilewewereou tatlunch," I gushed out all in one breath. Saying things faster makes them easier, right? Wrong. The moment I stopped my babble and looked directly into my hearing impaired husband's eyes I knew that he was even more concerned than before.

"What?" he said simply, trying to keep control of his emotions until he was sure of what he may or may not have heard. I went to take a deep breath and repeat myself, but he place a finger over my lips halting me. "Slow it down and look at me when you speak," he requested calmly.

"You weren't here," I started afresh, garnering a curious look. "And I'd received a few complaints from family friendly businesses about the men."

"What kind of complaints?" he asked.

I grimaced. "That they weren't very... subtle," I replied. "The clients were not happy with the macho he-men, dressed in black fatigues –"

"They're not fatigues, Babe," he said with a slight grin, probably at my expense. He loved it when I tried to slip in military terms and got them wrong.

"Whatever," I said. "Point is, they're don't like being bombarded by men in black demanding to see their security systems." He nodded that he'd 'heard' me. "So I was talking to Ella one day about it, and she must have decided to try and solve the problem for me – I'd been a bit stressed as you probably already knew. She ordered new uniforms for the men."

Ranger opened his mouth to say something but I held up my hand, letting know that I wanted to get my whole story out before he commented.

"They arrived this morning," I continued. "And before we left for lunch I told Ella to hand them out and have the men wearing them by the time we got back."

This time, Ranger managed to interrupt me before I had a chance to stop him. "Babe, relax," he said. "I'm sure whatever she's ordered is just what we needed. If you're happy with the changes, I'm fine with it." He kissed my forehead and pulled me into a hug that lifted me off the ground as he carried me to the elevator.

"Hawk tried to kick up a stink when he found out about them," I informed him. "He said that if you didn't approve it, he wasn't going to wear it."

"And what did you do?" he asked, sounding completely relaxed and even a little curious.

I tried to look down at my toes, but he lifted my chin so that he could my lips again, causing a sigh to fall from my lips. "I said he'd wear it and like it, even if I had to kill him to achieve that end," I told him.

To my surprise, he barked out a short laugh and pulled me to him again. "What happened to maintain the positive flow of energy in the office?" he asked through a chuckle as the elevator doors dinged open to reveal three gorgeous children, grinning up at us in identical outfits. Leave it to Ella to remember the RangeKids. Each wore a polo shirt that was black at the bottom and faded into a purple at the top. Laura and Bailey each wore black shorts that looked like skirts in the front, while Emmanuel wore shorts.

As Em immediately made his way over to me, clearly not over his anxieties about me leaving them yet, Laura put her hands on her hips. "Daddy you're in the wrong uniform," she scolded, her younger copying her actions. "You too Mommy."

I looked to Ranger as I picked Em up and positioned him on my hip. "You don't have to use this uniform all the time," I told him. Anxious for him to like them for Ella's sake. "Like on stake outs. It's probably better wear all black so you can't be seen." He was grinning down at his girls, so I doubt he heard me, but I felt better for having put that out there.

"Are you gonna make the men wear shorts?" he asked me, a twinkle in his eye that I hadn't seen since before he got the call from the government all those months ago.

When he finally looked up at me, I just smiled back at him and said, "You'll have to find out for yourself."

* * *

_If you are a returning reader of this story from many moons ago when I all but gave up on it, I thank you for you faith. If you are new to the story, welcome. Eitherway, don't forget to send a review. Who knows, I may update sooner than three years from now!_


	12. And They All Lived Happily Ever After

_This is the last installment of All the Time in the World. Thank you so much for bearing with me over the YEARS it has taken me to finish it. You've been very supportive, especially when I became completely disenchanted with the idea of continuing and finishing the story. _

**Epiloque**

One moment I was asleep, warm and content in my husband's arms, dreaming of nothing more than a delightful family picnic. The next, all that was gone. The sleep. The warmth. The contentment. And especially my husband's arms. I was sprawled on my back in the very middle of the bed, the covers kicked down to the floor, utterly alone. I don't know if it was the shock of having just woken up, or something else, but for those first few moments the world seemed to hold its breath. Nothing moved. No sound reached my ears. I found myself holding my own breath just to see if I could hear anything beyond my own respiration.

After long minutes of straining my ears, trying to catch even the faintest of sounds, the house exploded.

The cacophony that now pressed in on my made me wonder how on earth it had been sp quiet before. A phone rang. Someone was running loudly up and down the stairs. The twins were wailing. And if I listened closely enough I could just make out Ranger's calm voice, trying to shush them.

"Phone's ringing, Daddy," came Laura's voice from out in the hall as I stumbled out of bed. I noticed there was no response to Laura's announcement – Ranger just continued to try to calm Bailey and Emmanuel – and the phone continued to ring. It struck me as odd that he would let the phone ring like that, knowing that it was probably the reason the twins were crying in the first place, or at least adding to the reason, but the thought was blinked away with the last of my sleep brain as I remembered his hearing difficulties.

It had been three months since he'd come home from that mission, and while he'd shown a considerable amount of improvement in his ability to perceive sound – he was now able to listen without staring at lips if the person was speaking in a slightly louder than normal voice – he still had trouble distinguishing between the ringing in his head and the ringing of a phone. Bobby had referred him to a specialist, suggesting that he should perhaps get a hearing aid, even if it was only temporary, to provide an ease of access. As far as I was aware, though, he had not even looked at the number on the card, let alone made an appointment with him.

Without acknowledging anything else that was happening, I jogged down the stairs and snatched up the phone... just as it stopped ringing. Sighing, I tucked it into the pocket of my dressing gown and trudged back the way I'd come.

"Morning, Mommy," Laura enthused, hugging me quickly before she resumed running up and down the stairs. I watched for a moment, wishing I could siphon some of her excess energy for myself, before continuing on to the twins' bedroom.

Ranger was in the rocking chair, a child cradled in each arm as he attempted to calm them. His head snapped up immediately as I crossed the threshold. Em reacted as well, turning his red face, puffy from crying, toward me. I took a moment to take in the scene, thankful that for once I wasn't the one stuck with all the chaos on my own. I was so glad to have Ranger back in my life and taking care of me and our beautiful little cherubs that I totally forgot about the phone

I crossed to the rocking chair and dropped a kiss on each of my loved ones there before effortlessly lifting Bailey from her father's arms. Emmanuel raised his hands to me beseechingly, but he needed to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't running away without clinging to me every second of the day. That's how Mama's Boys were created.

"I'm sorry we woke you," Ranger said solemnly, hoisting himself out of the chair. "I didn't realise how loud we were."

I smiled gently, stroking my hand down my little boy's cheek as they came within reach. "I think it was actually the phone that woke me up," I assured him.

"I'd have gotten it, but the twins were damn near inconsolable," he explained, gesturing with his free hand for me to lead the way out of the room. "Come on, we'll go get some breakfast happening." I obeyed his suggestion – mainly because my stomach agreed with the thought of food whole-heartedly, growling in appreciation of the idea – filing out into the hall to the tune of my husband's chuckles. "Babe," he said, sounding amused.

"Was it really that loud?" I asked, my hand over my outspoken stomach in alarm.

"I've missed that sound," he teased, bouncing Em on his arm as he followed me down the hall to where Laura was still bounding up and down the stairs. Em let out a giggle at the motion and his father added, "I missed that sound too."

I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face him, scrutinising him carefully, trying to work out what was going on. He hadn't heard the phone ringing since he'd been home. And he'd been struggling to hear anything from Em, given how softly spoken he was. "Your hearing -?" I started, trying to think of exactly how to phrase what I wanted to ask.

"I finally gave in and got the hearing aid," he confessed, turning his head to reveal the small device curved around his ear. "There's no telling how long it'll take to get my hearing back to how it's supposed to be, or even if it will get there, and I didn't want to miss out on the little things in the meantime." There was a pause, during which all that could be heard was Laura's feet pounding on the stairs. We locked eyes as I tried to channel my pride into him for making such a big decision. "I've spoken with my handler, and the agreement has been made to close my contract early under the circumstances. I'll receive a full pay out like if I actually completed the contract and I've decided that the money is going straight to the kid's college funds," he explained. "I've also decided to take a step back at Rangeman."

"Ranger, no," I said, plopping Bailey on the floor as she squirmed to get down. As she moved to join her older sister on the stairs, I closed the distance between myself and my husband. "You love Rangeman, you can't give it up."

He smiled down at me, caressing my face. "I'm not giving it up, Babe," he promised. "I'm just not going to be participating in takedowns as actively anymore. It's been a struggle to balance the active side of things along with all the paperwork I have to do as boss _and _be here for you and the kids. It's time I got my priorities right. And Babe, you're priority one."

Before I had a chance to respond to this monumental news, his lips had claimed mine in a gentle, loving kiss, his hand delving into my hair as Em wrapped his arms around my neck.

"Ga-ross," Laura exclaimed from behind me, and we finally broke apart, Em clinging to me as we did so.

"Yuck," Bailey agreed, grinning up at us, as always, proud to be her sister's shadow.

Ranger narrowed his eyes playfully on the girls. "Gross?" he asked. "Yuck?" He took a step towards them, his hands out as his fingers moved menacingly. "Let's see what you think when I do it to you!" And as he took another step in their direction, they turned as one and began making their way down the stairs as fast as their little legs would take them. He caught Bailey first, just halfway down the steps as she made her way down one at a time. Kissy noises ensued as he lifted her up, pressing loud smooches to her cheeks as he continued in pursuit of Laura, who had disappeared around the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

In my arms, Em let out a short chuckle.

"You think that's funny, do you?" I asked, turning my attention to him with a grin.

"Kissy," he said enthusiastically, pointing down after his father and sisters. "Da kissy."

"That's right, Dad kissies," I agreed. "An Mommmy kissies too!" I exclaimed before descending on his chubby cheeks with kisses of my own. It was at that moment, with giggles and chuckles emitting from all corners of the house, that it finally sunk in that everything had worked out just as it was meant to. We were together and that was all that mattered.

* * *

_Thanks, as always, for reading along and I hope you've enjoyed the ride enough to leave a review. Also, ya'll should check out my original fiction that I've spent the last month working on for NaNoWriMo. I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find that it's not so entirely different to what I write here._


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